As Equals
by Dark Manifest
Summary: During the Mars terraforming project, Zechs and Noin are forced to face issues between each other that have been ignored for too long. It's about time they gained some equal standing. [Under revision]
1. Shuttle Limits

**Shuttle Limits**

_"Let us watch well our beginnings, and results will manage themselves." Alexander Clark_

_-_

Up and down. Up - and down. Up . . . and down, again. Up, bounce off her knee, up, and back into the palm of her hand. Up . . .

Lucrezia Noin was, obviously, tossing a ball up and down into the air. She wasn't completely sure why she was doing it. She was pretty sure she shouldn't have been doing it at all. But it was a choice between either this or taking that same ball and introducing it to her partner's head.

Silence. Nothing but silence since they started this ride into space. Oh, sure, they'd had a few brief conversations since they left Earth, mostly having to do with particulars about the terra-forming project, a quick couple of chess games to pass the time. Nothing profound.

She didn't dare say what she wanted to say. Like, "Where the hell have you been the last year? Don't you have any consideration for your friends' feelings?" Things like that.

But she couldn't. Because, if she knew Zechs Merquise at all, he wasn't going to answer. He didn't make excuses, and he wouldn't try to explain himself. Most likely, he would only glance at her and not respond at all. That was just the way he was.

At the moment, he was half-asleep in the seat beside her, arms crossed over his chest, eyes closed.

Zechs wasn't likely to fall completely asleep at a console. If she so much as poked him he would open his eyes and lock his alert, ice-blue gaze on her, wordlessly asking, 'What is it? What's wrong? Are we under attack?'

That was all she ever saw in his gaze for years now. It made her so angry, and increasingly sad, too. Because it seemed war was his essence.

Maybe she shouldn't have come . . .

No. Lucrezia narrowed her eyes at her ball as it took longer than it should have to come down to her hand because of the lesser gravity on the shuttle. She had known it was best to follow Zechs wherever the hell he went. She'd had enough with waiting. Friends or more than that or even less, she was sticking with him until every word unspoken, every action unexplained, was reconciled between them.

She looked at him, knowing that he was probably aware of her gaze. Platinum strands of hair fell into his face, partially obscuring the elegant, aristocratic features and closed eyes from her view. The rest of his uncut mane fell past his broad shoulders, which were uncharacteristically relaxed.

Lucrezia didn't let her eyes linger too long on him. She didn't feel like remembering a face similar to this mature one, only younger, softer, bearing a slight, rare smile just for her. The smile she would kill to see again.

_Who says growing up is worth it?_ she thought wryly, finally tossing the ball over her shoulder and letting it bounce away.

She sat staring out at the empty blackness of the space beyond the fiberglass windows. Her eyes drifted to the console clock of the shuttle. There were still forty minutes before they reached Mars, going on automatic pilot. Would she survive that long?

_You're awake_, she thought acidly in her companion's general direction. _I know you're awake, I always know, open your eyes_.

Nothing. She could feel his awareness, knew he knew she could sense it, but he didn't so much as skip a breath.

Turning slightly in her seat, she focused fully on him. Crossed her arms over her chest. Narrowed her violet-dark eyes. She was practically burning a hole through his invisible armor of well-acted indifference.

Thirty-seven minutes. She had nothing better to do.

Lucrezia waited, wondering who would break first.

His eyebrow twitched. She smiled.

He shifted slightly, rearranging the way his arms were crossed. She didn't break her gaze.

The minutes crept by like molasses on a cold day. Out of the corner of her eye, Lucrezia saw the time lessen by four minutes in the span of what felt like an hour.

Actually, it was almost fun. If she paid really good attention, Lucrezia could pick out little changes in his features that she'd missed before. The scars through his left eyebrow, on the back of his hand. The perfect height and curve of his cheekbones. The contrast of his dark lashes to his blonde hair.

So many years in a mask, she thought. I wonder if he even realizes just how he looks. I wonder how many women he's -

She was so occupied with these thoughts that she didn't detect the slight change in his breathing that would have warned her of what he was about to do next.

Zechs's eyes snapped open in a flash of arctic blue. In the next half a second, Lucrezia found her chin in his strong hand, her face inches from his, facing the curious, bemused, and warning glare of a wild white wolf.

"Why are you watching me?" he demanded, never one to beat around the bush.

Temporarily thrown off-kilter by the sudden close proximities and the connection of his eyes, Lucrezia hesitated, unsure, wondering if she should be as straightforward. She decided against it.

"Trying to unlock the secrets of your soul," she replied with a sarcastic undertone. She pried his fingers from her chin and added, "Half an hour to go. I trust you slept well."

He decided to respond to the latter statement. "As well as can be expected. What are we looking for?"

Lucrezia shrugged. "A small base. Maybe a couple of orbiting satellites or shuttles. I have no idea. For all we know the entire project could be in the belly of some ancient Martian."

Zechs looked at her sideways. She shrugged again. "It's a possibility."

"I don't remember you being so sarcastic."

"I'm surprised you remember me at all, oh-wandering-one." Lucrezia absently swiped at her ebony bangs, trying to get them out of her eyes and, as usual, not succeeding. "I've been spending too much time around Sally."

No response. But then, Zechs didn't really know Sally Po, did he? Lucrezia was somewhat glad of that. Sally was generous with her opinions of Zechs. In her words, he was a "solitary rebel with too many issues and not enough sense."

Sally used much more colorful words, though.

The thought reminded Lucrezia to get on Sally about the way she had been sending Wufei strange looks ever since they'd been on Peacemillion at the Eve Wars. The term "cradle-robber" would suffice.

The thought made Lucrezia smile to herself, but a sudden beeping from the console distracted her.

She glanced at Zechs. "Approaching Mars. Saddle up, cowboy, we're going in."

He stared at her. "I'm glad I have an entire year to try and understand you all over again," he said wryly.

Lucrezia Noin smiled. "That's the friendliest thing you've said all day."


	2. Red Planet Interlude

**Red Planet Interlude**

_"A person is only really alive when he is moving forward to something more." - Winfred Rhoades_

_-_

The leading technician was a man only a few years older than Zechs and Noin, with a rangy, laid-back look to him, short dirty-blond hair, brown eyes and a toothpick in his mouth.

"Welcome to the legndary Mars," he said in a bored voice to the newcomers, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I'm Grant, and you'll meet my partners later on. Come on, I'll show you the ropes."

Lucrezia was curious to the entire point of this venture, terra-forming the Red Planet. Setting up Mars to support life? The tourists were going to be thrilled. Citizens traveling to Mars as a summer vacation. Every science-fiction lover's dream.

She frowned up at the hundred-foot thick, semi-spherical, translucent steel membranes providing a livable environment, through which the stars were blurrily visible. The planet's true magneto-sphereless environment was killer compared to the moon, which was really just a rock circling Earth. Mars was an entire planet that had lost the ability to support life millions of years ago.

Her eyes fell to the large, long, roughly built structure inside the dome. It was similar to the Lunar Base at its beginning, having yet to be expanded for homesteaders. Most of it extended in tunnels and pathways underground beyond the dome.

Grant paused to say, "This is where you'll be living for the next year. It ain't much, but it's got the necessities. And a few gems we've added over the months."

"Hey, Grant, heads up!"

Lucrezia jumped, and Zechs started, too.

The voice came out of nowhere, followed by a figure swinging down from a cable extending from the uppermost part of the structure. Grant made a quick, smooth side-step out of the way, and the figure dropped into a flip, landing easily foot-first.

"Elle, would you quit being a screw-up?" Grant asked without the slightest irritation.

"But then I couldn't have fun with you." The woman straightened with a laugh, running a quick hand over her ruffled, shoulder-length brown hair. She was medium-height and trim, with sharp gray eyes and an obvious attitude.

Rolling his eyes, Grant bit into his toothpick, saying through his teeth, "Noin, Zechs, this is Ellisa, our lead architect. I prefer to call her 'that annoying bitch.'"

She enthusiastically flipped him off, then shook hands with both Zechs and Noin. "Forget he said that. Just call me Elle. Nice to meet you. Welcome to hell in space."

Lucrezia caught the way the corner of Zechs's mouth twitched with amusement, and decided she already liked Elle.

Maybe this terra-forming project would have a little more excitement than she'd thought. At least there were sane people to talk to now.

How very wrong she was.

-

Zechs had been wandering around the area, getting the lay of the land and memorizing ever twist and turn he needed to know. He and Noin would be specializing in shuttle missions, protecting the base from space raiders, technicians work, the occasional odd job, that sort of thing.

The terra-forming project won't be so difficult, he thought reasonably. And in a year, I'll be able to return to . . .

The thought trailed off. Return to what? What had he left to return to? Every event leading up to the destruction of Libra had prepared him for his eventual bloody and necessary death. From the moment he decided to give the world a war it would never, ever forget, he'd had no intention of surviving. There woudn't have been a point to his life.

Hell, there wasn't really a point now.

A year presumed dead. Some of it had been spent in a coma, recovering from injuries that he should have simply died from.

The probe had found him drifting in space, still in the remnants of the torn and defeated Epyon. His rescuers had been kind people, with a personal business of space salvaging, indifferent to his role in the war, and looking only to help a dying man.

Zechs paused at the very edge of the dome, where the stars could be seen more clearly and space was a warbly dark void.

It would have been so easy, then, to just give up and let himself die. No one would have blamed him. Most likely no one would mourn him, at least, not for long.

But there were two serious problems with those theories: First, he didn't deserve the easy way out. If he did, he'd be worse than a confused and worthless soldier; he'd be a coward. He couldn't be finished yet.

And second, someone would mourn him. Someone would care.

When he'd abruptly reappeared among the Preventers, he wasn't surprised that Noin's instincts had predicted his return. Her dusky violet eyes were unreadable that first time he saw her again. Something like happiness, anger, exasperation mixed with something indefinable had made her thoughts obscure to him. To this day, on the Red Planet, he didn't know exactly what she was thinking.

"I've waited all this time, Zechs. And I simply can't wait any longer."

Remembering those softly spoken words made him close his eyes and fiercely try to smother the confusion in his thoughts.

What had Noin really meant by those words? He'd replied, "Understood" with his usual unbreakable calm, but at that moment he hadn't understood. Or rather, he knew what she meant, but he hadn't known _why_.

It sounded almost like an ultimatum. She wouldn't wait any longer for him to . . . what?

_Don't be a fool, Zechs_, a quiet and mocking voice snapped at him. _You know exactly what she wants from you. The question is, who can wait longer? Her to get it or you to give it? You'd better figure it out._

_Shut up_. Zechs crushed the whisper into the back of his mind. He hated that voice. It had seemed to calm slightly when he'd been more certain of his mission, but the Epyon had brought it back to life. The Epyon had done a lot of things. Zechs realized that he should have known better than to use anything wrought by Treize Khushrenada.

But then, he should have known better in a lot of situations.

"Zechs. Wing Zero tells me you have no future. What is the Epyon telling you?" Heero Yuy had once said.

The memory made Zechs laugh bitterly. Didn't Heero realize? Didn't he understand? The Epyon had been telling Zechs the exact same thing. He just hadn't cared any longer.

The past was the past.

And now he had no future.

The stretch of frozen red desert beyond the dome lay like his soul, tortured, unable to give or recieve life to anything, not even to himself.


	3. Projection Study

**Projection Study**

_"Simple pleasures are always the last refuge of the complex." - Oscar Wilde_

_-_

"What the hell is that supposed to be?" Elle asked with her usual lack of tact, leaning over Ashida's shoulder and looking curiously at the small device he was examining. "It looks like a toy car exploded."

Swallowing a laugh, Lucrezia walked past the two as she entered the room.

Ashida tried to nudge Elle away with his shoulder. "It's a device meant to gather samples of the Martian soil."

"Didn't we already do that?"

"Yes. We're doing it again." Ashida sounded as if he were prepared to swat Elle away. Of course, if he did, there was an excellent chance she'd come up swinging.

Elle shook her head. "I'll never understand you scientist types. You make my head hurt."

"Try not to think," Xack offered from across the room. "You'll just injure yourself, Elsie."

"Yeah, you've done it enough to know, huh, O'Neal?" Elle shot back.

Grant yelled in passing, "Ease up, you two. I don't have the time to break up another brawl."

The room quieted, leaving Elle and Xack to shoot each other nasty looks.

It had been almost a month since Lucrezia and Zechs had arrived at the Martian Base, and already Lucrezia felt comfortable among the people. There were dozens of scientists and technicians doing work on the terra-forming project, but it was easy to realize who were the leaders. Lucrezia had already split them into personality categories, based on what she had already seen.

Michael Grant was the overall top dog. Everyone gave him respect and took orders from him as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And Lucrezia had to admit, he had the feel of a leader about him, level-headed, dependable, and rock-solid.

Elle Talluer had shone the lights of her personality from the beginning: Mischievious, fun-loving, intelligent and one who enjoyed bothering people with her intelligence. She was always commenting, examining, and getting into something.

Sorata Ashida was the leading scientist, forever knee-deep in research. His dark eyes reminded Lucrezia a little bit of Wufei, only less hostile and more thoughtful.

Xack O'Neal was the youngest of the entire project at seventeen, too young to be the expert computer technician he was, and he took a lot of heat for it, especially from Elle. It seemed the two were constantly out to kill each other. Twice already Lucrezia had seen Grant pull one of them from the other's throat.

They were all very . . . interesting individuals. The terra-forming project would have been fun except for one thing:

Zechs was avoiding her.

She didn't know why. Ever since that lost year when he couldn't be accounted for and was pretty much presumed dead - more than presumed dead, the man still had a headstone set up in memorial - Zechs had been even more distant and secretive than he had been during the war.

For reasons she both knew and others she couldn't guess, it was driving Noin insane.

"Hey, Ashida, have you seen Zechs anywhere?" she asked as she handed him a file she had just pulled up on the biological condition of the dome.

He looked occupied and replied distantly, "Not since I asked him to do a scan on some glitches in the environmental systems."

"Which was . . .?"

Ashida thought a minute, then shrugged. "About a day ago, give or take."

"Oh." Lucrezia turned to survey the room. "Anybody seen him in the last twelve hours?"

Elle and Xack looked at each other, than back at her and shook their heads.

Resisting a growl of exasperation, Lucrezia marched out of the room and nearly ran into Grant, who was just heading towards the survey station at the end of the tunnel.

"What's your rush, Noin?" he asked her.

"Just trying to find my partner. You seen him around lately?"

"The last I saw of him was yesterday. He was taking a shuttle up to the relay station on my request."

"Why?"

"To send a transmission back to Earth on the progress of the project. It was a pretty routine thing, he should have been back by now."

"No one's seen him for hours." Now Noin was getting concerned.

"Don't worry yourself," Grant reassured her as he continued towards the survey station. "Zechs can take care of himself."

That's not what I'm worried about, she thought. Not at all.

She turned on her heel and walked away down the hall.

-

Just as she reached the shuttle dock, Zechs was walking down the ramp, pulling his space helmet off and impatiently pushing his hair out of his eyes.

It took most of Noin's self-control not to jump on him at that second. The majority of her control stemmed from her uncertainty over whether she would kiss him or strangle him. Either action could prove fatal for both her and Zechs.

"Hello, Zechs," Lucrezia said, covering her irritation with a level, almost friendly tone.

"Noin," he greeted her in turn. However, Zechs Merquise was not a stupid man. He knew that whenever those deep violet eyes of Noin's started flashing like they were, and whenever she actually said "Hello" to him, instead of greeting him with her usual smile, that she was not pleased.

He was wondering when she would drop a hint at what was causing her anger, when she asked him, casually, almost coldly, "Did you have a good time in space?"

She was daring him to so much as give her a smart reply, so she could feel free to rip his head off.

He knew better than to answer her directly, or allow even the smallest hint of sarcasm to enter his voice. So instead, he smoothly replied, "Things seem to be fine back home. Relena sends her regards."

His avoidance of her sarcastic inquiry, his easy tone, and his unreadable eyes daring to ignore her anger drained the strength from Lucrezia's fury. Suddenly, she just felt weary. Weary and even a bit disgusted with herself.

"Great," she said, managing to just barely keep the lifelessness from her voice and feign interest. "It's nice to know everything's all right. You'd better report in to Grant. He's at the survey station."

Zechs nodded, and Lucrezia turned to go.

"Right," she said to the walls of the empty hallway. "Glad everything's 'all right'. Life's just great."

Once again, she had backed down. Once again, when she had a chance to let Zechs know that, hey, someone actually cared what happened to him, cared when he just disappeared, cared when he wanted to be alone and wallow in his own darkness. And she had backed off.

It made her so sick, right to the point where she wished she hadn't cared. If she just didn't give a damn, if she just let him crash and burn to ashes, maybe they'd both be better off. She worried so much about him that she felt like a sister, or a mother, or an aunt, or some other family member.

But she never felt like "just a friend". She never felt like a lover.

And goddammit all, she never felt like an equal.

Why could she never stand up to his ice-cold gaze? It wasn't fear that was stopping her; it couldn't be. Their intellects were perfectly aligned, and she was almost his physical match. No, it was her compassion. Her devotion. Her tireless, deathless, maddening _understanding . . ._

Why did she always have to _understand_?

"God, why am I such a coward!"

She turned and fiercely slammed her fist into the wall.

"Whoa, Noin, having a bad day, or did that wall give you a dirty look?"

Noin whirled to find herself face-to-face with pale green eyes and a wicked half-smile.

She weakly returned Xack's smile. "Neither. Just felt like punching something."

His smile grew into a grin. "I know how you feel. Just hoping you're not looking for a live object to work out your issues on. But if you are, I'm sure Elle would volunteer." He didn't ask her why she was angry, and that gave her a surprised feeling that he really _did_ understand.

"Sure," she replied dryly. "As if I would give you the satisfaction of a 'cat' fight."

"No, give me the satisfaction of a fist fight. We can save any play wrestling for later. Preferably you and me, one-on-one."

"It's so cute when little boys flirt with their elders," Noin shot back, jovially pointing out the fact that she was three years Xack's senior. She actually enjoyed his playful flirting and word games.

"Ooh!" Xack mimed a spear entering his heart. "You pierce me with your wit!"

Lucrezia openly laughed, and Xack grinned, throwing an arm around her and giving her a slight squeeze. "You see? Even a honed blade like you can use a laugh every once in a while."

"'Honed blade?'" Noin echoed wryly, enjoying the friendliness of his hug.

"Take it as a compliment."

"I've been called worse. What's that?" she added, referring to the silver vid-disk in his hand.

Xack shrugged and sighed. "This, my friend, would be a two-hour introductory to the wonderful world of building a ground module."

She grimaced. "Sounds exciting."

"Your false optimism depresses me. C'mon, the tech team's waiting."

-

"Zechs? Zechs, wait up!"

The female voice pulled him from his thoughts and he turned to see the young woman coming in his direction.

He identified her as Ellisa Telluer, and wondered what she could want.

The moment she came within arm's length of him, she stopped dead and glared at him narrowly, as if she were facing the Devil and wanted to make sure her instincts hadn't fooled her.

"Where the hell were you the past twelve hours?" she demanded.

Zechs was at a loss for her sudden hostility. It seemed today was a day for angering women for apparently no reason.

Holding tight to his indifferent composure, he raised a cool eyebrow at her. "Why do you want to know?" His tone matched hers exactly.

"Because we need you, Blondie! God, I swear, men are thick! They think they can just run off and leave us poor females to handle heavy work by ourselves - when we'd rather get males to do it for us . . ."

She rolled her eyes, moved behind him and started pushing him in the opposite direction he'd been going. Knocked out of whack by her fast-talking sarcasm, Zechs, at first, bemusedly complied.

"What do you need me for?" he asked, finally digging in his heels. She was decidedly smaller than him, so she came to a halt.

Elle sighed. "One of our idiot rookies just crashed construction on the northeast tunnel. It seems he's terrified of heights, so he got to the top, looked down, and boom! We have another patient in the medical ward. Unfortunately, he brought down half a day's work with him. Which is where you come in."

"Why?"

She smiled at him, her gray eyes slightly wicked, and patted his shoulder. "Because you're big, buddy. We need some muscle for this job. So delete your great intelligence and join the rest of the muscle-bound nimrods, okay?"

Without another word, she grabbed him by the arm and continued dragging him towards the constuction site.

Zechs was still mildly puzzled, processing what Elle had just said. In her own - very odd and taunting - way, it seemed she had just paid him a compliment on both his build and intelligence.

It had been a while since a woman had graced him with such a comment. The year of AC 195 was spent under heavy battle, with no time for dating in between. And he wasn't particularly social with the opposite sex at anytime. The occasional pointless flings in his younger days didn't count.

"Are you wearing cement shoes or something? Come on, move it, Blondie, I'm missing all the fun!"

"Fun?"

"You know, ripped guys lifting heavy objects! That's priceless entertainment!"

A snort of laughter threatened to escape, and Zechs found he enjoyed Elle's humor and tactless honesty. He supposed he could learn a thing or two from her: Tell the truth up front, and your life could be a lot simpler.

-

"Noin! It's been two months, girl, and I haven't heard a word! I've missed you!"

Sally's voice was a welcome sound, and despite the bad reception of the satellite transmitter, her smile was an even more welcome sight. Lucrezia was glad to see a friendly, familiar face, and it made her miss the Preventers just a bit more than usual.

She rested her arms on the console, just beside her helmet. "Hi, Sally. Sorry about the long interval, but it isn't easy to get a transmission out from Mars."

"I can imagine. So, are you having fun on the Red Planet?"

"Depends on your opinion of 'fun.' If it includes a lot of building and enough technical details to make your head spin, well, I'm having a blast."

Her blue eyes slightly mischievious, Sally inquired, "How's life with the Lightning Baron?"

Lucrezia sighed and closed her eyes. "Don't ask."

"Hm. I'm not surprised."

Suddenly feeling a little defensive, Noin opened her eyes and focused on Sally's transmitted image. "How's life with Wufei?"

Sally rolled her eyes. "He's a pain in the ass. Always working, never has an even vaguely humorous, complimentary, or friendly word for anyone, and he has about all the imagination of a reptile. Otherwise, he's the best partner a girl could have. Did I mention that I miss you VERY much?"

Laughing, Lucrezia shook her head. "Yes, and I miss you, too, Sally."

They traded a few quick stories of their lives in the past sixty days, including Lucrezia's tale of a couple of construction workers starting a brawl, trashing a good week's worth of supplies, and ending with Grant threatening to blow everyone's head off with his laser rifle.

Sally offered an exciting recollection about the Cinq Kingdom's situation a few weeks ago, when a rebel group had invaded and held the castle and its guests hostage. She relayed the brilliant maneuver the former Gundam pilots had used to get everyone to safety with hardly any violence.

"Hey, I expect to see you in person in another ten months and three weeks, Lucrezia Noin," Sally said as they were beginning to sign off. "See if you can survive Mars for that long."

"I'll try. Bye Sally."

The transmission was cut, and Noin's smile lingered for a few seconds before fading away.

Space was her love. She admired it, lived for it, in the same way an explorer lived for the hunt, a new discovery, and a new peace all alone in an indifferent, natural universe. It was where she felt she belonged even before she could experience it, when stars at night were her only guide.

But she didn't need it more than her friends, or the feeling of happiness. Could she be happy alone? Was absolute freedom worth absolute silence, absolute coldness, absolute dark disillusion?

Not as far as she was concerned. Sally, Une, Relena, even the former pilots, she felt she needed them all. Space was only a temporary escape. She had to have a home.

And suddenly, she had to wonder: What made Zechs happy?

Was there anything at all?

She remembered what used to make him somewhat content - before the war. It had changed them both so much.

War demands a great toll from its participants, she thought. Identity and self-worth one of its greatest.

Pondering this, she zipped up the front of her suit and boarded her shuttle to return to the glowing red world below the relay station.

Mars hung steady and coldly crimson beyond the fiberglass windows, lifeless except for the glint of metal and glass domination. And it reminded Lucrezia of a great, broken desert, drowned in blood.


	4. Silence Between

_**Silence Between**_

_"I know of no evil so great as the abuse of understanding, and yet there is no one vice more common." - Sir Richard Steele_

_-_

Ellisa came dancing into the lounge one 'morning', or as much of a morning as could be in space, humming a song.

Noin looked at the brunette over her mug of strong black coffee with surprise and bemusement, while Xack promptly commented, "Hey, look who got some last night."

"Shut up, oh juvenile one," Elle countered. "I'm far too elated to let your idiocy bring me down."

"Hah! I keep trying till lunchtime, and I'll have you cursing at me, easy." Xack tossed his cup into the disposal unit and smirked at Elle. She reponded with a mildly rude gesture.

"What _are_ you so happy about?" Lucrezia asked, trying to avert an argument.

Elle fell onto a couch with a happy sigh, then looked up and winked. "Perverted Boy over here was right. I got some."

"See, told ya," Xack said knowingly. "A man can always tell. You're practically glowing with the satisfaction that only sex could bring."

"I'm surprised you recognized it. You don't see a lot of that satisfaction in any of your partners, do you, O'Neal?"

One of the other members in the lounge who overheard the shot started choking on his juice, and someone had to give him a slap on the back to keep the liquid from coming out of his nose.

Noin had to conceal a snort of her own, and she met gazes with Zechs, standing beside the table and pouring himself some coffee. He shook his head and sighed, one side of his mouth twitching, and she covered her smile with one hand.

The two of them had reached a comfortable level in the third month of the project, reestablished a safe territory they had lost in the year he was absent. Making an attempt at casual friendship was surprisingly easy for Lucrezia. She found relief in her recovered ability to share a glance or a smile with Zechs.

However, beneath the relief, she was wary of how long it would last.

Ashida stopped in for a quick cup of coffee just in time to hear Xack and Elle throwing impressive insults back and forth. Noin heard him mutter, "Nice to see the day starting off so pleasently," just before he exited.

"Please, Elle, I've dated more woman than the number of men you've scared away!"

"Really, Xack? And were all of these woman conscious during the date, or did you have to bludgeon them with a sledgehammer!"

Lucrezia ran her fingers through her black hair and asked her partner idly, "Zechs, were we ever like that when we were kids?"

"I don't think so," he answered dryly. "If we were, they would have thrown us out of the military."

"I've seen you flirting with Noin - date within your own age range, you juvenile delinquent! She's far too mature for you!"

"Like you haven't been scoping out Zechs! Why don't you date within your own species, you parasite! He's way out of your league!"

It was at that point that everyone in the room promptly turned to look at Noin and Zechs.

"Oh." Noin swallowed a snicker that would have been entirely inappropiate and rather undignified at the moment. "Um, Zechs, isn't it about time we went to moniter the technical systems . . .?"

"Yes, Noin, I think it is."

They quickly and wisely made their exit.

On their way to the dock, Lucrezia couldn't stop chuckling. "I love those two. Everyday with them is like a new floor show."

"They should be acting their age, not like a couple of kids," was all Zechs would say, and Noin glanced at him sideways.

"Oh, I don't know. They remind me a little bit of Heero and Duo. Only the argument is more two-sided."

It was brief, but Lucrezia managed to catch the slight stiffening in Zechs's shoulders at the mention of Heero Yuy's name. She had wondered whether or not he was completely over his rivalry with the former Gundam pilot.

Zechs would get over it eventually, she was fairly certain. The war was over. And if he was ever going to make a home . . .

But how? How was he going to be comfortable living a calmer life in a normal surrounding, even as a Preventer agent?

If he was planning on returning to Earth at all.

She shook off the thoughts. It wasn't the time.

They worked in fairly comfortable silence for awhile, monitering the systems on the main console, doing scheduled updates on software, the usual tasks. But there was something slightly disturbing, maybe a little frightening about the silence. It wasn't the quiet that they used to have. It didn't feel quite right.

For years, it never felt _quite_ right.

So she decided to break the silence with, "So is there any truth to Xack's accusation? Is Elle sweet on you?"

For a few seconds, there was no response, and Lucrezia turned to look at him. She was surprised to discover a truly bewildered expression on his face.

Finally, he replied, sounding bemused, "I have no idea."

She stared at him blankly. Then her shock dissolved and she burst into peals of laughter.

"It isn't that amusing, you know," Zechs said, sounding annoyed.

"Yes, it is! How could you not know when a woman's flirting with you?"

"If you must know, it's been awhile since I've . . ." He struggled for an appropiate term.

"Since you've what? Played the field?" Lucrezia provided, trying not to choke.

He glared at her, and the laughs came harder.

At last, his composed mask cracked into a smile, then a chuckle. "Yes, I suppose you could say that," he relented.

Calming down somewhat, Noin went back to her work, but glanced at her partner with a smirk. "That is certainly not what I expected from you, Zechs."

"Really? Why?"

That put her at a loss. How exactly was she supposed to say, "Because you're hot" without sounding like she'd been spending her time noticing?

She shrugged, trying to sound casual. "No real reason. I suppose I thought you were a little more - aware of your surroundings."

"And what about you?"

"Xack?" Now, here was a topic she could talk about. "Oh, he's cute, but he isn't serious. Just a school-boy crush; he'll get over it. From what I've seen, it's more likely he's interested in Elle. Those two fight far too much for it to be normal."

"Their relationship seems to be rather - "

"Unhealthy? Violent? Homicidal?"

"Explosive," Zechs provided, making Lucrezia smile. "If they don't deal with their issues, it could affect their work."

"It could." This time, Lucrezia said this quietly and without the humor that had been present only seconds before. It was great that Elle and Xack's "issues" would affect their lives - that only meant they had no choice but to resolve them. Would her "issues" with Zechs ever be resolved? Or were they going to go on pretending there was nothing TO resolve?

They'd never actually spoken about the event more than a year ago, during the Eve Wars, when they'd faced each other in battle for the first time in years. She'd known she'd never have a chance against him while he was in Epyon. But he hadn't killed her, despite the fact that she had stood in his path.

It had gone unspoken because she thought he understood why she couldn't move, and why he couldn't kill her.

But now she wasn't so sure.

"I don't even understand you anymore."

She said this so softly, so thoughtlessly, that she didn't even realize the words had passed her lips until Zechs said, just as quietly, "Did you ever?"

They looked at each other wordlessly, ice blue to dark violet. Something was straining between them, tugging relentlessly, trying to either pull them together or tear them apart, neither knew. All that was certain was that a new tension had arisen, a special quiet they had seemed to abandon years ago . . .

Suddenly, the door slid open. They both jumped from their trance and looked up at the intruder.

"Hey, Noin, Zechs," Grant said, "I need one of you at the dock. Seems we got some reports of space raiders cruising around our territory, and since you're of the few with any space-battle experience . . ."

Zechs nodded and stood. "I'll come."

Grant nodded. "Good. Noin, you can handle things here, right?"

"Yes," she replied in her most professional tone, daring a split-second look into her partner's eyes before turning back to the console.

The two men left the room.

As the door slid closed behind them, she thought of the silence that had fallen between her and Zechs. And she realized it was the first honest silence she'd felt with him for a long time.

-

"For all we know, this could be a routine swing-by from an entourage heading for Saturn, but we're not going to take any chances. Raiders are too common at isolated locations, and the last thing we need on this red rock are a bunch of thieves . . ."

Grant was talking, not animatedly, but in the easy drawl that was common with him, so Zechs was able to follow along while partially thinking of what had passed between him and Noin.

The silence between them had been a bit unnerving. But what was really concerning him were her words: "I don't even understand you anymore." From the way she had said it and the look she gave him when he replied, she hadn't meant to speak outloud.

His reply was no better: "Did you ever." He didn't even quite comprehend why he had said it. He really hadn't intended to say anything like it at all.

Also, it made no sense. Of all the people in the world and the colonies alike, he would say that Noin was the only person alive who had ever really understood him. Or did she? Treize was dead. Zechs had more or less alienated Relena by his bloody acts, and though he knew her nature would allow her to welcome him back, there would always be that between them. Their differences.

Heero Yuy - was he the other one who understood Zechs as no one else could? Perhaps. And Relena had seen something in Heero that made her care for him as a pacifist should never have cared for a warrior.

Yes, Zechs had seen it, too. That kindness in Heero. The same kindness neither Zechs Merquise, nor Milliardo Peacecraft, could ever possess.

Neither one of his personas had given him what he wanted, what he still ached for to this very day.

Whatever it was, it seemed he'd never find it.

"All right, Zechs, these are the scans and coordinates of the space vehicle we picked up," Grant was saying, drawing Zechs' attention from his morbid thoughts back to a console screen in the space scanning area.

Dutifully, Zechs examined the vehicle scans, and he frowned. "How long has it been on this route?"

"Two or three hours, give or take."

"It's a turn-about path. It seems to lead away from the area but it always curves back in someway, just slow enough that it isn't noticable. That's a typical stalking strategy."

Grant sighed. "So in other words, we got raiders."

Zechs nodded.

"Great." Grant ran a hand over his dirty-blonde hair, tousling it even more. "You think it's serious?"

"Most likely not," Zechs replied. "Raiders don't get a lot done these days. We'll just need security for when the sender of this scout ship comes along. Our troubles should be limited."

After a nod from Grant offering both gratitude for services and silent dismissal, Zechs was free to return to his previous work.

All thoughts of space raiders forgotten, Zechs headed back to the monitering area where Noin was still working.

But he froze not two feet from the door.

Did he want to the return to the atmosphere of silence they had shared before? It had been strange, and familiar at once. Something so unused that it was new all over again.

He used to treasure that silence, years ago . . .

Years ago.

Now, Zechs wasn't the same person he had been. He hadn't been for too long. And even the thought of going back to what he used to be was impossible, ridiculous. It wasn't something he could do.

For a few more seconds, he stayed where he was in the spot just outside the closed door, where she was. It was almost as if something was begging him to stay.

Those seconds were short and brutal.

Abruptly, Zechs turned and walked away.

-

She could sense him, feel him, just a few feet from the door. If he walked in now, maybe they could save that silence that had been interrupted. Maybe the rediscovery of that quiet would be the stepping stone for them. A stepping stone back to what they used to be . . .

If only he would just walk in . . .

Noin could just hear his footsteps as he left.

She closed her eyes. They were dry, tearless. As always, it seemed, she didn't cry, wouldn't, no matter what seemed to happen to her. The lack of tears never made her feel stronger; merely more weary.

When she opened them again, she realized there was another silence around her, one that had grown familiar.

The silence of what war will do to you. Had done to him. Had done to her.

A single, deep breath. And she went back to work.


	5. Memories In Monochrome

**Memories In Monochrome**

_"So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more." - Alfred, Lord Tennyson_

-

Five months. Five months on the Red Planet.

Noin didn't know whether it should have felt like five weeks or five years. All she knew was that the Terra-Forming Project was going well. They were spreading the dome further along the landscape, and there had been no serious halts in construction.

Everyone with the project was more than occupied with importing building materials, expanding the base below and above ground, and making it safe for a few brave homesteaders hoping to make a living and a home on the crimson world.

Busy times, they were. Noin hadn't been able to get a transmission out to her friends back home for almost six weeks, thanks to a downed communications satellite still awaiting repairs. She was feeling rather homesick.

Whether or not Zechs felt the same was a mystery to her. He'd returned to his naturally brooding attitude, and rarely said a friendly word to her. They'd lost the casuality of friendship. And they seemed to have lost the confusing intimacy of their one honest silence.

She made no advances towards him. To be truthful, she was feeling very much like brooding herself. It was a lonely few weeks.

Of course, the others at the project were friendly, but Xack and Elle were occupied with make-out sessions and pretending everyone else didn't know, Ashida was knee-deep in research, and Grant was busy to begin with, but was also trying to keep the entire base under control.

When her specialty areas hit a lull, Noin was left to do as she wished. Sometimes she just wandered the base, which was quite a few miles of wandering, if you counted the underground tunnels that spanned even beyond the edges of the dome. Other times she'd go to the observatory and look at the stars.

But most times, she retreated to the privacy of her quarters.

When she'd first arrived, the quarters had been cramped, worse than a studio apartment. But as the dome progressed, the living quarters grew larger. She now had a tiny seperate bedroom, and a lounging space with a low table in front of the sofa.

Lucrezia collapsed on the sofa and shut her eyes. The bright ceiling lights were off, but a soft bluish glow emanated from the wall lamps.

She couldn't sleep. So her mind drifted, as it did often and settled on the distant past . . .

-

The death of her parents had been the last straw. With nowhere else to go, nothing to call her own, nine-year-old Lucrezia Noin did the only thing that many others who had little left had done before: She hacked off her hair and registered at a military academy, using the not-unconsiderable money her parents had had to pay for tuition.

In the Lake Victoria Academy, she'd been more physical than even the young men around her. She spent hours at a time in the gym, exercising to keep in perfect condition. Mobile suit training was stressful on the body, and so she needed to stay fit to stay at the top.

Normally, that went for everyone. But Noin had had to work even harder at staying in good strength. This went especially as she grew older and her body matured. She kept her feminine curves under ruthless control by learning several martial art forms and rarely taking time to relax.

It wasn't only physical abilities that made the soldier. Intelligence, discipline, obedience and intitiative also kept you alive on the battlefield. Every test she had, every essay she wrote, Noin made the highest marks. In fencing, she was almost unrivaled. Her behavior was quiet and observational, just what her superiors adored.

Her motto was that it didn't matter whether a soldier was male or female; all that mattered was how fast he or she took out enemies. In order to bring truth to that motto, Noin became even better than her male counterparts.

Needless to say, those counterparts weren't too pleased at being defeated by a girl. She was outcast among them, and even among the few other woman at the Academy, simply because she was better.

It was something she had no choice but to take in stride. But it wasn't easy to be so perfect, and so perfectly alone.

They didn't understand what it was like to have absolutely nothing to return to, nothing to own. To have lost everything to war. All she had was her personal achievement. She HAD to be the best, or she was nothing.

She didn't have time for their happy conversations, or their cheerful laughter. They didn't understand why she tried so hard. And so they remained seperate.

Only one ever even began to combat her level of achievement: Zechs Merquise. He spent as long in the gym, made marks just as high, fenced just as elegantly, fought just as ruthlessly.

At one point, they were rivals, against each other, trying to see who was superior. They never actually found out.

Over time, that rivalry became a wary alliance. Noin realized that maybe, just maybe, this mysterious and ever-stoic young man with the glacier blue eyes could understand her loneliness, and her intense desire to succeed.

It was a time before the mask, before he managed to cut himself off from the world completely, even from her. He was alone because of his superiority, but also because of an indefinable coldness that he wore like a cloak. As if he were locked up in a seperate realm, a place darker than any of the cadets around him could comprehend.

Noin was almost angry at him, then, for seeming to think he had seen worse than she, suffered more than she, lost more than she.

Equals or rivals or neither, she had to know.

It took a long time to get him to so much as speak to her without the curt, impersonal attitude he showed to all. It began with little things: Coming to ties at fencing matches and mobile suit battle simulations - trying to see who could fight the longest or run the fastest - being side-by-side on academic score charts and sharing secret glances and slight smiles to combat the jealous or insulting whispers of the other students - spending quiet study sessions together at the library, during which not a sound was made but volumes were spoken.

And slowly, they began to respect each other, trust each other. It amazed her, the long, long periods of time they could be together in absolute, comfortable silence. They understood each other so well . . .

Then came the question of Why. Why were they at the Academy? Why did they try so hard to be the best? Why were they so perfectly matched? Why did they so silently, so perfectly _understand_?

It came together in hesitant, resentful memories and recollections of blood and explosions, of abandonment and scenes of death and destruction. She told him of her lost family. He told her of his. He told her the reason why he fought so hard. She told him hers.

And suddenly, they were more than just companions. They were best friends.

The rumor around the Academy was that they were sweet on each other. The young women resented Noin ever more for "catching" one of the most attractive, aloof boys in the class; the young men resented Zechs ever more for "taming" the most indomitable, impressive girl in the class.

They didn't care. They had one another.

But it wasn't meant to last.

As alike as they were, they were different in their certainties and their missions. Zechs was bitter, always split between his need for revenge and his pacifist background. When facts came to facts, he would kill to reclaim what he had lost, and that road would never bring his life back.

Noin could never relieve that bitterness. She had reached her objective relatively easily: Space. Freedom. Training soldiers to honor and respect the innocent on the field so that another tragedy like the one that took her family wouldn't repeat itself. She had made peace with herself and her past.

But it seemed her friend never would. He couldn't even figure out what it was he really wanted, or how to achieve that goal correctly.

That was why she slowly began to allow him to score just a little higher, move just slightly further up, be a tiny bit better. She only wanted to help him.

It was a mistake on her part. All Zechs had ever wanted from her was a companion, a friend who _understood_ him as no one else ever could, who accepted, even valued him. He couldn't do that for himself without a sword in his hand. By actually letting him move to the top, she was pushing him away, leaving him alone, telling him: "Your mission is more important than I am - than _we_ are."

Yes, a mistake. The biggest mistake of her life.

The moment their final scores were in - the highest pair of scores in the Academy's entire history - was the moment they were split forever.

He was above her on the score chart - she was merely a line below, but that line opened a chasm between them. Suddenly, Zechs believed that his worth wasn't in his friend, Noin, but in his soldiering, his ability to fight and kill.

They were no longer equals, or rivals, or friends. They were just . . .

When their years at the Academy were over, they, too, had met an end.

It seemed they didn't understand each other so well after all.

-

Lucrezia opened her eyes and left the dark paths of memory.

That was years ago, so many years ago that they had met with that deep, forbidding seperation. Since then, Noin had tried to bring it to Zechs' attention that she had always understood, that she had always been his equal. But he never did get it.

And maybe she wasn't his equal. Perhaps the chasm had been a message: You're too different from each other. You can never, ever truly understand each other.

But their comraderie told her different. Could they have such an intense connection, but never be really close? Was it all just false dependance instead of voiceless intimacy?

Before, she might have been sure. But after she'd seen that mask for the first time, the forbidding white shield against the world, she didn't know anymore.

And now, here they were.

-

Zechs didn't like the way his mind wouldn't allow him to relax. He had the night shift in six hours and he needed to rest up. But his thoughts continually careened towards the past that he tried to avoid, and those kind of recollections never allowed for sleep.

He shifted in bed, stared at the ceiling. And thought of his partner.

-

Different paths had pulled them apart. Different perspectives, different ideas of how it was best to fight a war. Both had hated war. Both had lost everything there was to lose to the ravages of war, excepting their lives, health and sanity. Both had every intention of being superior enough to make a change in that war, for the better.

She wanted to go back to the source, train the best possible soldiers she could to act with honor, bravery, and skill upon the battlefield. He, however, felt the source was on the battlefield itself. He would kill his way to victory.

Perhaps she was the right one all along. She never looked for revenge. Only a solution. He, however, could only see the blood he would spill.

Was it only different destinies that had pulled them so ruthlessly apart? Or was it his own bloodlust?

It was thoughts like these that made Zechs know that Noin's reasons for guiding Relena had little to do with their friendship. Noin had always had her own beliefs, her own agenda in the world. Peace had been her motivator. She had instinctively known that Relena would lead the world to a greater peace than could be bought with a gun.

Her instincts were always infallible. The one time they had been wrong had been about him.

Zechs hadn't thought twice about being anything other than a mobile suit pilot. It seemed he had to get out into the heart of the violence and the death and prove himself the only way he had left: As a soldier. As a leader. As a killer. These were all things he could do. The raging emptiness in him would let him do nothing else.

After all, what remained for the prince who had lost his kingdom? His heart was to no one. His skills were unrivaled. That was, of course, the most dangerous soldier of all.

He was supposed to be fighting for his father, for his fallen country and murdered family. But somewhere along the way, he forgot exactly how he was supposed to do that.

He knew his sister was still alive. Through his connections at OZ, it was simple to discover her among the Darlians, living a privaleged life oblivious to her history. And he had realized that he no longer had to be both the soldier and the heir. She could take his place at the throne.

That hadn't worked out as he had hoped, either. Once again, the Cinq Kingdom fell to explosions and destruction. History had repeated itself.

It was the last straw. The last shred of whatever it was that prevented Zechs Merquise from toppling over the edge was gone. And when Quinze Barton came to him with an offer of leading the revolutionary faction White Fang, Zechs didn't refuse.

Quinze was a fool, Zechs thought. He had no idea what he was getting into, allowing me, of all people, to accept the power to kill millions.

Zechs had aimed at giving the world a war it would never, ever forget, nor ever want to repeat. Whether he thought he would succeed or not, well, that was even a mystery to him. He had intended to destroy. Perhaps, somewhere, in the back of his turmoiled mind, he had known he would be stopped by a wiser, stronger force than he, and he was: The Gundam pilots.

The end of After Colony 195 contained so much chaos for him. Noin was almost like an anchor, attempting to keep a rocking ship at bay on the riotous sea.

She never did question his motives for what seemed to others to be pure insanity, because she knew why almost from the beginning. She even remained by his side, leaving her own comrades. Even to the end, however, it wasn't her beliefs she abandoned for the sake of being beside him. Others who didn't know her might have assumed that, but Zechs knew better.

The confrontation on the battlefield between his Epyon and her Taurus . . . it had given her a glimpse into his weakness. His bloodless cowardice, as he percieved it to be. And she saw what she needed to see in order to understand why he needed her there.

They hadn't found the Silence, though, even in those moments in space. No, that was lost to them forever.

-

He sighed. That was it. He was never going to sleep, not even on the shift. His awakeness was going to be a permanent thing.

It amazed Zechs, how Noin still seemed to understand him, if only partially. It seemed to him that though his partner knew the dessimated part of him still cowering from the ruthlessness of a soldier, she didn't know the soldier itself, the soldier that ruled his existance.

Perhaps that was what split them. He was a warrior heart and soul. And if she couldn't see that, then no matter what they were, had been, or would become, they would never truly understand each other.

And like he had said to her, previous to that curious lack of sound or thought, had they really ever understood at all?

Whether they had or hadn't, here they were.


	6. From Crawl To Walk To Run

**From Crawl To Walk To Run**

_"Today is not yesterday. We ourselves change. How then, can our works and thoughts, if they are always to be the fittest, continue always the same. Change, indeed, is painful, yet ever needful; and if memory have its force and worth, so also has hope." - Thomas Carlyle_

-

It wasn't until the middle of the next day that Noin realized what day it actually was: May eighteenth. She hadn't even been paying attention to the months, so preoccupied she had been with work.

If she still had her military dogtags, the plates would have read: Earth Alliance Officer; Captain Noin, Lucrezia; Born: May 18, AC 176.

She smiled a little wistfully at her reflection in the fiberglass window as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Happy birthday to me," she murmured, almost self-mockingly.

Was her reflection any different from what it was last year, or the year before that? Maybe a little older. Her eyes were darker, it seemed.

Twenty-one wasn't as much of an achievement or change for her as it would have been for any other adult. She was a woman long before what was considered "maturity." It made her a little resentful; once you've risked your life on the battlefield and survived, most other thrills paled in comparison.

The thought made Lucrezia's smile go just slightly wicked as she turned away from the window and started towards the docking area. Despite her spotless record in the military, she hadn't always been so . . . straight-laced. The ages of fifteen and sixteen were a less-than-sane time.

She hadn't become an instructor until a few months after her seventeenth birthday. Before that, well, her more rebellious side had shone through.

"Hey, Noin, why so evil-looking?" Elle asked, coming up beside her. "Thinking of what you're going to do for the big twenty-one mark today?"

Noin raised an eyebrow. "How did you know?"

"It's in your public profile. I like to make sure, you know, we don't get any psychos on this base, so I cruise the background of most everyone here." Elle grinned. "Now, what would you prefer? Clubbing, male strippers, or a good old-fashioned hell-raising?"

"None of the above," Lucrezia replied with a laugh. "Just want to make it to tomorrow in one piece."

Elle shrugged. "Okay, suit yourself. I'd bake you a cake, but with my cooking skills I'd probably torch the entire base. Just have a great birthday, okay?"

"Thanks." The other woman walked off, leaving Noin to reminisce on the last birthday she had - and the conversation that had come with it.

_"But a woman should be surrounded by men on her birthday," Sally Po was saying as she and Noin went into the Preventer space station cafeteria for lunch. "Sexy, single men. No, scratch that. Sexy, single, willing men. Twenty has it's advantages."_

_Shaking her head, Lucrezia replied, "Not likely, Sally. My sex life is close to non-existant; soldiering takes all of my time."_

_"Who are you telling?" Sally rolled her sky-blue eyes. "I've been in this business for awhile, too. But there are some things guns just can't do for you when it comes to life."_

_Lucrezia sighed. "Tell me about it."_

_They took a seat at an empty table with their refreshments. The cafeteria was quiet that day because it was still early; most of the staff on the station didn't get their break until later on._

_"It's not like you're a virgin or anything, right?" Sally asked with her usual bluntness._

_"No . . ." Noin answered reluctantly, unwilling to get into the sordid details of her teenage experiences during base leaves and late-night affairs._

_Looking mischievious, Sally put a finger to her chin. "Don't tell me. First time, Zechs."_

_The other woman nearly had an embolism. "Zechs?! Oh, no, never, not him. Not him, no way." Noin couldn't resist a chuckle, though there was a bitterness about it. His disappearance was still a presumed death, but she wasn't going to let it get to her. She would know it, just know it, if he died. There was no way she couldn't. Until then, she wouldn't mourn him._

_"Really?" Sally sounded surprised. "Well, the way you guys acted, you'd think you had some romantic history."_

_"No history. Not even a footnote." Now uncomfortable with the conversational topic, Noin began to steer it in another direction. "Anyway, I couldn't find time for a relationship if I tried."_

_"Who said anything about a relationship? Those of the severe military lifestyle have to settle for pointless flings, one-night-stands, and those frighteningly long periods of time called celibacy." Sally sighed and sipped her drink. "Thus is the life of a woman with a sidearm and a rank."_

_They sat in silence for a moment, until Lucrezia saw her partner's eyes began to trail someone across the room. She followed the blonde's gaze, then raised an eyebrow._

_The target was tall and very attractive, a dark-haired and green-eyed lieutenant just leaving the caf. His gaze went to both women at the table, and when he saw them watching him, he smiled slightly and winked._

_Sally returned the expression and amended to Noin, "Of course, there are some exceptions. I can definitely see myself having his kid."_

_The two women burst out laughing._

Twenty-one. Hm.

Noin wondered if Zechs knew. They hadn't been anywhere near open about birthday dates at the Academy, since it was considered a frivolous thing to think about during training. And, of course, the years since had been too packed for any real recognition.

Of course, she knew when he was born: December fifth. He hadn't told her; she made it her business to know.

In any case, she didn't expect him to remember, and wouldn't put him on the spot by letting him know.

She had to meet him for a standard shuttle sweep of the area around the planet, making sure everything was in place. If everything went well, they could make it out of the job without a hitch.

Knowing Zechs, there probably wouldn't even be a ripple.

-

"Bye, you two. Be good while you're gone."

"And don't forget to bring us something nice!"

That was Xack and Elle, of course, from the control room of the launching bay. Zechs saw Noin roll her eyes and smile reluctantly. He himself maintained his image of stern professionalism, but Elle was cheerfully making faces at him through the plexiglass and he was having some trouble.

Finally, they made their way up the ramp. They would be using a weapons-laden cruisercraft, so suits weren't necessary at the moment, though a pair was packed away on board for later on.

Zechs found it a little strange that Noin was dressed in a pair of fashionably torn black jeans, boots and a blue tank top for a mission. He was so accustomed to doing things in uniform. But on the isolated planet, people didn't care about such things. He himself wore blue jeans, boots, and a white T-shirt.

As soon as they settled in, a voice came in over the radio. "Hey, you know, forty percent of serious accidents in spacecraft occur in planetary orbit," Xack said helpfully.

"Xack," Noin began, but before she could finish, there was a slight scuffle over the line, a muffled, "Move, idiot," and then, Grant's voice came in. "All right, you two, you know the game plan. Do some routine checks on the three orbiting satellites, look for signs of raider activity, the basics."

"Roger that," Zechs replied automatically. "Setting up for launch."

Ten minutes later - ten minutes of relative quiet - Noin announced, "There's the first satellite. You want to do this one?"

Nodding, Zechs rose from his seat and got his suit.

After twenty minutes of systems checks and data acquirement, they were off again. On the second one, Noin volunteered to go out, and in another fifteen minutes they were on to the third satellite. The same thing went with the last, and they were preparing to return to the planet.

Suddenly, Noin asked, "Zechs, would you mind if we just stayed here for awhile?"

He was puzzled. "Why?"

She shrugged, looking a little sheepish. "I don't know. To look at the stars?"

With a chuckle, he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "You always did have a soft spot for space."

She smiled. "Yeah, I guess I have," she said softly. "You know why?"

For some years he had a guess, but he decided to hear it from Noin's lips directly. "Tell me."

"Because out there, it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done, space is just empty and beautiful and infinite. It never changes, it never goes away. It isn't even enough to see it from a terra-surface. The stars are always the same, no matter what we do. Sometimes, I wish . . ." Noin trailed off, a little uncertain of her next words.

Zechs was intrigued. "Go on."

She sighed. "I wish that I could be out there. Not like now, just really IN space. To just drift forever and see all there is to see. Forget everything." Her fingers wistfully traced the surface of the window, copying the pattern of the stars. "To be part of it."

For moment, Zechs was silent, considering. Then he stated, "You could leave. If you wanted to."

When she looked at him, her dark purple eyes reflected in that glass reminded him of the stormy night sky on Earth. "I could. And I won't. I love space. But I don't need it."

They dropped into silence once again. Zechs looked out into the velvet emptiness of space and wondered just how eternal it was. How long it had been around. Humanity had a very, very long time to go before they even began to explore its depths, whatever secrets it held.

She could leave. But she wouldn't. It was like a message to Zechs: Don't you dare abadon both our world and our friends for your solitude. Decide what you want, and what you need.

But the truth was, he didn't know either.

"People go to empty space when they have nothing left to return to," he said quietly.

"You can go anywhere for that," Noin replied, the slightest sharp undertone in her voice.

"You're right." Zechs glanced at her. "People go to empty space to forget. To disappear."

"And to die." She looked back out into the topic of their conversation. "It's time we forgot what we used to think about space, Zechs. About a lot of things. We're not like stars. We have to change. We have to grow up and move on. And every year that we grow older and we can say we've changed somewhat, then we get a little wiser."

He didn't say anything at first, turmoiled. Then, "Yes. That's the theory, anyway."

Noin smiled. "Yeah. The theory."

"The hardest thing in the world is attempting to change." He was trying to explain, in his own obscure way.

"Maybe." She sighed. "But the worst thing in the world is underestimating your ability to change."

Zechs wanted to echo her sigh. He felt something inside of him slowly dissolve; she still didn't understand.

But maybe he understood her. Just a bit.

"It's time we went back," he said. She nodded.

As the cruiser was maneuvered back towards the planet, the star-studded darkness glimmered with its secrets and infinite wonders, and against the backdrop, something that could have been a metal ship gleamed red. In the next second, it was gone.

When Noin returned to her quarters, she was surprised to find a medium-sized, discreetly wrapped package leaning against the front of the door. When she picked it up and turned it over, she found that there was no outward explanation as to its sudden appearance.

Maybe it's a bomb, she thought with some dark amusement. In any case, her curiosity was going to get the better of her.

She sliced through the wrapping with her nails until it fell away. And her eyes widened.

It was a VR headset, the new modern kind. It was labeled, _The Language of the Stars_, as to the virtual reality views that would be loaded into her mind. Such a high-tech headset offered up-close-and-personal holographic images of Space, skillfully animated and real life footage combined. It would be like existing in that void for real, even if it was only in her mind.

Lucrezia was amazed. Who would know her so well as to give her this?

A small note was attached.

_You may not be able to escape to the stars_, it read. _But you more than deserve one last dream before you wake up. Happy birthday. Zechs_.

She smiled and wanted to laugh. So he hadn't forgotten after all. Of course, she would only use it once, for the pure thrill, then give it to one of the children on the base. He knew she would.

After all, she was too old for it.

I used to dream of space, Zechs, she thought, entering her quarters and closing the door behind her. She fingered the headset. But now, I dream of you.

Maybe there was hope for them yet.

Maybe.

-

_It's time we forget what we used to think_ . . .

Noin's words echoed in Zechs's mind long after they returned from their mission, made him stop dead in the hallway on his way to his quarters from hers. The signifigance of what she had said made him wonder if she was speaking for the world, for herself - or speaking for him.

_We're not like stars. We have to change._

He had told her that changing was not easy. But he hadn't been able to convey what he meant by combating the youthful, survivor's wisdom with which she spoke. Shifting your mind was one thing; becoming something new was something else.

Was that what she wanted of him? To change?

He couldn't do that. Not even for her, not even to save the world, his sister, his life, no, Zechs Merquise couldn't change. When he tried, he brought nothing but chaos and death.

That had been his biggest mistake in accepting leadership over the White Fang: He had been trying to be what he wasn't. Hoping a pacifist name could redefine his soul. Allowing a false shadow to fool him into thinking that the blood in his veins could change him, when really it was the blood he spilled from others that made him, kept him alive and fighting.

He could have the rights to neither of them. Not a pacifist, not a murderer, so what was he?

_People go to empty space to forget. To disappear. And to die._

That was what he wanted to do. And he had his chance the year before, drifting in a mobile suit's remnants, slowly dying among the stars. It would have been a perfect end.

Yet, he was still alive at that moment, on Mars. For some obscure reason, he still breathed. He didn't deserve to die.

Zechs frowned, aware of the bleak expanse of Martian landscape beyond the tunnels he traveled, and the stars that stretched above the planet.

His reasons were pointless, childish. The subject of revenge . . . it was a lost topic to him, lost with the second death of his homeland. The subject of success, however apocolyptic, had been another story.

Victory . . . and then?

Nothing.

_It's time we forget what we used to think . . . We have to grow up and move on_.

Moving on was not one of his options. Self-pity was an atrocity to him. A recurrence of his insanity during that war was completely out of the question. All were idiotic. He was finished with everything that had been before.

But he had nothing to continue onto.

Standing still, in a void that cared not whether he survived or fell apart.

Why is Noin with me? Zechs wondered. She can do it, do what I can't. She can still live a clean life.

No life he touched remained clean. It wasn't something that deserved sympathy; it was what he was. If she remained by his side, there was every chance she would fall into whatever it was that still drew destruction to him.

He worried for her, but he was more concerned that he didn't know why she stayed. It puzzled him that he understood her love for freedom, her love for space, but couldn't fathom her reasons for feeling she had to change.

_And every year that we grow older and we can say we've changed somewhat, then we get a little wiser._

Perhaps that was true. What did he care; he was fateless, if that was possible.

_It's time we forget what we used to think_ . . .

That shouldn't be a problem. After all, people came to empty space for the sole reason of forgetting. Disappearing.

Dying.

His icy eyes narrow with thoughts of abyss, Zechs continued walking, unable to leave the past behind, unable to reach the future.


	7. Mind's Eye Refraction

**Mind's Eye Refraction**

_"Dreams full oft are found of real events the forms and shadows." Joanna Baillie_

-

Lucrezia finished gulping her coffee on her way to the docking bay farthest north in the base, grimacing at its bitter taste, but knowing that anything less powerful than black coffee wouldn't be strong enough. She'd been restless half the night and working hard all day, so by five o'clock p.m., caffeine was the only thing keeping her conscious.

When she reached her destination, she saw Grant coming up from the other direction.

"Hey," she greeted him. "You still need me to help supervise the drop-off?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I asked Zechs, too, but he might not show, what with all the repairs going on in Sector Twelve. So it should be just you and me."

"Will that be a problem?"

Grant shook his head. "Don't think so. This should be a routine drop-off." He turned to look through the docking bay windows at the workers zipping spacesuits for the arriving vessel.

Immediately after, an enormous cargo ship landed in the bay, the hull a deep green and the engines large and only minimally powerful to allow for slow and steady passage through space. This ship wasn't equipped with weapons or trailed by MS teams, unlike during the war, when such precautions were necessary for both sides in order to transfer supplies to soldiers.

When the cargo ship had settled safely in the bay and the airlocks were sealed shut, Grant opened the door that led inside and walked in, Noin right behind him.

"This is just a usual delivery of food, construction, and computer supplies?" Noin inquired as cargo ship's rear hatch was opened and workers started up the ramp to begin the unloading. The more extreme loads holding construction supplies would be carried out by specialized machines.

"Yeah," Grant replied, crossing his arms. "Late, I might add. Something about booster trouble passing the Lunar Base - hey, watch it with that crate, kid, you might end up eating whatever's in it!"

The worker Grant was yelling at readjusted his hold on his burden and scowled at his superior. "But there're computer components in this thing, boss, not food."

"I know, and if you destroy any of them I'll shove the whole mess down your throat!"

Grant went up the ramp to make sure they didn't lose any crucial supplies through some idiot's incompetance - or at least that's what Noin heard him mutter - and left her the responsibility of supervising everything leaving the dock.

An examination machine was set up at one of the two main exits of the dock and manned by Xack, who looked deathly bored. Lucrezia went over dropped a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"Tedious, isn't it?" she asked.

He sighed. "I could be with Elle doing - well, the things we do, but no, I'm doing detail work at a dock." He made a long-suffering expression and moaned, "And she promised we could use whips this time!"

Eyebrows raising, Lucrezia cracked a dry smile. "Oookay. I'll add that to my list of things I really, really never needed to know."

Xack grinned at her. "Just messing with your head. We still haven't gotten past the insult-each-other-and-kiss-passionately stage." He turned back to his work, examining the image of what was inside a passing load, then checking it in and letting it through. "But I'm looking forward to the next level."

"I wouldn't, if I were you," Noin warned mock-seriously. "Knowing the way Elle acts towards you, she might just use whips. And wear stiletto heels. She'll probably even gag you, strap you to a chair and do unspeakable things to you."

He considered this a moment, then smirked wickedly. "Now I'm all excited and giddy."

Noin shoved him. "You're sick."

"Hey, you thought it up, sister. Wonder what you do in your free time."

"Watch your work," she admonished him, and suddenly, she heard a low voice over her shoulder.

"Makes me wonder, too, such suggestions from a girl like you."

She turned and was faced with what was probably the most attractive man her own age that she'd seen since . . . well, since she'd first seen a mature Zechs without his mask during the war.

He was only slightly taller than she with a neat build, had straight, short auburn hair, large and extremely vivid gray eyes, and a half-smile that was so infectious that she found herself smiling back almost immediately.

Uh-oh, her mind whispered. He's one of _those_ guys. A natural charmer. Watch out.

"A girl like me?" she repeated guardedly. "And eavesdropping isn't very healthy, you know."

"What are you going to do, strap me to a chair and do unspeakable things to me?" the man quoted her, his slight smile turning into a full-fledged smirk.

Noin inclined her head a little flirtateously. "I might." She felt her eyes narrow very slightly, though she smiled.

He detected her message of mild distrust and held out a hand, saying, "My name's Shawn Celluci. Off-world supervisor of this drop-off. And you are . . .?"

"Lucrezia Noin. Preventer Agent." When she accepted his hand, there was an almost palpable sense of chemistry. She found herself liking him already, for no apparent reason, and the fact that he was Italian like herself helped quite a bit.

They held hands for a second longer than necessary before realizing that introductions were over.

Xack, meanwhile, was watching the pair, and Noin could tell from his grin that he was preparing a likely smart-ass comment for the obvious attraction between her and Celluci.

Luckily, one of the unloading workers going through the examination machine snapped, "Hey, junior, you gonna stand there all day or give me clearance for this thing? It ain't getting any lighter."

"Saved by the growl," Xack muttered, winking knowingly at Noin and going back to work.

Lucrezia shook her head and started to head back towards the cargo ship's unloading dock.

Celluci matched step with her. "So why is a High Officer Preventer Agent doing grunt work at a terra-forming project?" he asked.

"How did you know I was a High Officer?" Noin asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Everyone knows who you are. Lucrezia Noin, one of the main founders of the Preventers."

She made a face. "Ugh. Great. I was hoping I could avoid media fanfare."

"Stranding yourself in the middle of space is a good way to do it," Celluci said wryly. "And you didn't answer my question."

"Why am I here?" She hesitated. As comfortable as she felt with Celluci - and that was disturbing enough - no power in Space would make her tell him why she was on Mars in the first place. Hell, she hated to admit to herself. "I don't know. Chasing a dream, I suppose."

Celluci sounded almost bitter as he said, "And aren't we all." He shook himself out of it. "This base is impressive, considering how new it is."

Shrugging, Noin gestured at Grant, who seemed to be yelling at no one in particular. "This is his project, to be honest. Though this terra-base still has a long way to go and won't be completed until AC 199, Grant's gotten us through our toughest spots. I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to finish early."

"Don't you have a problem with raiders?"

"Not at all, surprisingly. A good thing, too, since we still have a while to build up any real security measures. It's one of the reasons my partner and I volunteered to come here, since we both have war experience."

Frowning, Celluci looked back towards Xack at his post. "That wouldn't be the kid back there, would it?"

Noin laughed. "Of course not. Xack wouldn't know which end of the gun to hold."

"Thanks," Xack called back sarcastically, having overheard her.

"This base seems protected enough," Celluci put in. "You have surface defense, including thermo and laser weapons, force-field shielding, lockdown measures in case of emergency, and a decent satellite uplink to the nearest Preventer station. In fact, it seems a little like overkill to me."

"You've done your homework," Noin pointed out, impressed. "But it honestly isn't enough. In comparison to the heavy security on the Lunar Base, this base has close to no solid defense. Trust me, a soldier always knows."

Celluci smiled, looking at the cargo ship. "Indeed."

Something about his expression started the slightest inkling of curious suspicion in the back of her mind, and she started to ask why he was so interested in the base securities, when she was distracted by someone entering the dock.

Zechs glanced at her briefly, but allowed his gaze to linger on Celluci for a few more seconds, looking him up and down, and finally narrowing his eyes and turning away.

"Huh. What is he doing here?" Celluci demanded, sounding irritated.

"That would be the partner I was telling you about," Noin replied, mildly puzzled. "You know Zechs?"

"Who doesn't?" was Celluci's only response. Suddenly, his demeanor changed and he smiled at her. "Well, I have to get back on the ship. It's about time to leave. It was very nice meeting you in person, Miss Noin."

He actually took her hand, bowed and kissed the back of it.

Noin raised a brow. "You're a playboy, aren't you?"

"I pride myself in it. Perhaps we'll meet again."

As he walked away, she inclined her head slightly, enjoying the rear view. "Perhaps," she murmured, and rubbed the hand he'd kissed, not minding the tingling sensation she felt there.

When she turned, she nearly ran into Zechs, who was standing behind her, looking slightly irate.

"One of these days, I'm going to shoot you for doing that," she snapped.

He ignored her threat and nodded at Celluci's retreating back. "He was a petty officer on Libra. His name was Celluci, I remember. Italian, a real upstart. Spent more time playing the field than doing work."

Lucrezia shrugged, almost insulted. "Well, you know us Italians, we just love being upstarts. Or rather, is it European princes with attitudes who love it?"

With that, she turned to leave the dock, and Zechs looked after her narrowly.

-

Lucrezia only managed to kick off her boots before collapsing onto her bed, still wearing her clothing. She'd spent the entire rest of the day helping the medical crew with a huge accident with electrical systems on the west side of the base, and she was dead tired.

Almost immediately, she drifted off to sleep.

The dreams seemed to come quickly.

_Empty, empty. Where was it? Somewhere close. Creeping, a sneaky thing, it was. A leering, cold monster bearing the face of a friend. It wanted to kill her, this demon. Kill her and maybe him, too, if it ever got its way._

_A blood-red creature. Closer. She could hear his voice in her head, but she couldn't respond. If she spoke, then she couldn't do it. She wouldn't be able kill him first. And she had to._

_Standing off, space didn't care what they did. Everything would be sucked into the void afterward._

_Aim, aim, she had to get the aim. Was she holding the gun; no, it was in her bones. She WAS the weapon. Impossible . . ._

_It was coming. Its eyes were green. No, blue. Red and white, blood-stained hands. Armor? A spacesuit. Gundanium. Skin._

_More powerful. It would kill her._

_"Noin, get out of the way!"_

_"I can't do that, Zechs."_

_I won't give up, she screamed at the monster. Even if it takes my death to make it happen, you'll let him go!_

_It laughed. He narrowed his blue eyes, his emerald eyes._

_Epyon. Zechs. Combined. Deadly. Cold._

_Noin raised the weapon, but ice encased her power. She couldn't do it._

_Remembering his long-dead smile, eyes that once weren't so cold, so cruel, a voice that asked her to stay instead of to leave. She couldn't destroy what was left of that._

_The blood dragon was going to swallow her whole. She would be annihilated, and Space would forget her existance._

_Closer, closer . . . imminent death . . . Damn you, Zechs . . ._

_She shut her eyes._

_Nothing. No pain._

_She opened her eyes. Widening. He was veering off. Leaving. Aborting his mission to kill._

_So, some sane part of her remarked, maybe there's a chance._

_"I am so weak," he said._

_His weakness was her strength._

_But she didn't know what he was anymore._

With a sharp gasp, Lucrezia sat bolt upright in her bed. Her blood was pounding fiercely in her ears. Somehow, in the darkness, afterimages of a great red beast continued to haunt her. It snarled, and its eyes belonged to Zechs.

"Dammit," she whispered, falling back. She pressed a hand to her forehead, lost in thought.

She hadn't had that dream since the very night she and Zechs had had their confrontation. Why was it back? That incident in the Eve Wars had been years ago. It was over.

Noin narrowed her eyes at the ceiling.

No. No, that was wrong. The war was over. But her battle still raged on.

She was still angry. Somewhere deep inside, she was still furious at him for what he had done. Still furious that he had, for a brief moment in time, for a second when the world stood still, been willing to destroy her. That there was still an entire new part to him that he wouldn't let her see.

If he wouldn't even give her that much, what was she worth to him? Would she continue to give, and never know that answer? Could she continue to be a friend, and that alone? When would she find out if it was even worth it anymore?

_How long could she wait?_

So many questions. And there was only one way she had left to get the answers out of Zechs Merquise, to finish something they had begun in that warzone over a year ago:

Confront him. And if everything exploded from there?

So be it.


	8. Know No Evil

**Know No Evil**

_"There is a great difference between knowing a thing and understanding it. You can know a lot about something and not really understand it." - Charles Franklin Kettering_

-

For the next new days, Noin knew she was a walking timebomb. Some part of her that she had been ignoring for too long was waiting, waiting for the provocation that would give it the moment it needed to explode.

Everyone else noticed how on edge she was. When Xack made a casual side comment about it being "that time of the month" she nearly brained him. He was lucky he ducked so her clipboard missed his head and hit the wall instead.

She was working up the fierceness to confront her partner. It had taken her eight years to decide to do it, and it was going to take her a couple of days not to back down. She was too used to being patient with him.

One part of her was not pleased with the decision: _You must be insane. This is NOT the way to go about this, Lucrezia. Do you really want to take the chance that you might destroy whatever it is you two have left_?

The more forceful part of her, the part of her that kept her fighting, snapped: _Shut up. If this goes too far, you'll never get your chance. If he needs time, that's too bad. You've given him years to get a clue. Time's up._

As she didn't do often enough, Noin went with her soldier's side.

So one sluggish Saturday afternoon, she steeled herself and went to Zechs's quarters.

He opened the door, and she asked point-blank, "Can we talk?"

-

"Can we talk?"

At first, Zechs was caught off-guard. What could Noin want to talk about? However, he knew better than to attempt to put her off, because though her expression was level, he could see sparks of fire in her slightly narrowed eyes. She was serious.

"If you like." He stepped back to allow her in, and the door slid closed after her.

Arms crossed, she took one long look at his quarters and he knew what she was thinking: There was hardly the slightest signature of the person in residence there. No pictures, no keepsakes, no personal items whatsoever besides clothing, and even that was neatly folded out of sight. It was a very militaristic room.

He never put down roots in any place. Limiting personal connections allowed him to move about as he chose, as quickly and unexpectedly as needed.

But Noin didn't say anything about it. She just turned to look at him with a perfectly even gaze. A determined gaze.

"So what are your plans?" she asked.

Of all questions, that was one he hadn't been expecting. "What?"

"What are you going to do when this project's over? And it will be over in less than four months. The toughest work is going to be finished and in the winter of AC 199, Mars will be open to the wealthy public. What then?"

What then? Zechs absently combed his fingers through his hair, something he only did when he found himself in an inconvienient situation. Did he want to tell her that although he had a half-formed plan of returning to the Preventers, he hoped to deal only in solitary, undercover assignments? To keep himself as seperate from the Agency itself as possible?

No, he decided. "I'm not certain," he said. That was the truth, at least.

Noin had seen his gesture and knew this wasn't a conversation he wanted to have. Which meant she was on the right track.

"Will you be staying with the Preventers?" It was a general question, shielding the more personal one she really wanted to ask.

"Perhaps." He sounded uncommitted and cool, even to his own ears, and he didn't like it.

Something in his tone goaded her to inquire something she hadn't meant to: "Will you be staying with me?" she asked too softly. The words were out before she could even think about stopping them, and she quickly amended with, "As my partner?"

Zechs glanced at her quickly. Something about the way she had said that . . . "I don't know. I haven't thought about it in detail. Have you?"

She smirked slightly, a humorless, self-mocking expression. "Oh, it's sketchy at best. Return to the Preventers. Get a nice apartment. Carry out both basic and exceptional missions. Gain a few ranks. Build on a hobby. Talk with friends. Pass the years creatively. Grow old. Collect a few cats. Retire, and then die."

Sarcasm dripped from every word, prompting Zechs to be very careful how he responded. "That sounds fine, if it's what you want," he said warily, watching for the trap to spring.

"No, it isn't," Noin countered flatly. "Do you want to know why? Because somehow, someway, for some unthinkable reason, I feel like you won't be there."

He didn't really know what to say to that. So he replied as indifferently as possible, "Perhaps I won't."

Indifference wasn't the form of tact to be used in this conversation.

Her eyes narrowed. "Why wouldn't you be? Where would you go? What would you do? What the hell is out there that keeps pulling you away from the people who care about you?"

It made him uneasy, to hear her say so plainly "I care about you." Connections made it harder to be a loner and to live his life as cruelly as he pleased. He so hated to bring friends down with him.

Could he say as much? Yes, it seemed so.

"It would be better if I were alone," Zechs replied quietly, and almost immediately, the fires in the eyes of the woman in front of him flashed, then began to smolder like new coals. An infinitely more dangerous shift.

"Really," she said tonelessly. "Alone. That's what you would prefer."

Suddenly, she couldn't look at him.

The silence that followed was a seething one.

Noin turned away, long fingers resting on the back of her neck. Zechs couldn't help but notice the tension in her hand, the way it twitched as if it needed to be balled into a fist and slammed into something.

He had never seen her so angry, so distant.

Finally, she sighed, a long, slow exhalation.

"Do you realize," Noin began quietly, still not looking at him, "how much I would like to humor you? To leave you alone? To walk away and just let whatever happen, happen? To watch you kill yourself and not care?"

What was she saying? His brow furrowed slightly, and he wanted to speak, but no worthy words came to him.

"But I won't," she went on. "You are - or at the very least, used to be - a very good friend of mine. A friend who used to laugh and had some brightness to him. A friend I decided was my comrade, my partner. For that friend, I won't let you be alone."

Another long silence. Zechs suddenly felt something uncalled for building up in him, and he felt a bolt of shock when he realized what it was: Anger. Anger bordering on rage. A cold rage, and an old sadness, at her words.

His eyes narrowed. He now knew what she wanted.

And it pierced him to the core.

"I can't be that person anymore." His voice was beyond angry. It was downright chilling, and it made Noin snap to attention and look at him. "I'll never be that person you knew. Stop demanding him from me. He died long ago."

"What?" Of all reactions, of all things to say, this was something she hadn't expected.

"I know you cared about who I used to be, but it's over now. I've long shed that skin."

His anger made her angry. He had no right to speak to her as if he had the right to be furious. He was the one brooding and cold, an unrecognizable creature that seemed prepared to scream and prepared to kill all at once, one who ignored how she felt and drifted in his own black visions.

"And what have you been all these years?" Noin demanded forcefully. "What are you now? It would be nice if you would tell me!"

"I don't have all the answers, Noin!" Zechs's eyes flashed a deeper glacial shade. "But I can tell you this: Stop searching for a man who no longer exists."

It was at that time that her self-control broke.

"No longer exists?" she snapped, her voice rising, her pulse speeding up. "Was it the mask that killed him? Or first blood? I don't know when he died, and I don't care! I was still there through all of that, and no matter how you say you changed, or broke, rose or fell, I still care about you! Through all of those deaths, I still love you!"

She froze, and her entire body went cold.

Zechs stared at her, expression slowly losing its infuriated flame as he processed what she had just said. All of his fiery emotions were inexplicably replaced with surprise . . . and a bizarre indignation.

Love? She . . . loved him? He'd known she cared deeply, but . . . love?

Noin slowly closed her eyes as she felt the last of her will slip away.

Instead of feeling shock and dismay at having Zechs find out about her emotions this way, instead of feeling awkward and unsure, like a young girl having her crush finally notice her, instead of feeling she had to explain, that she needed to dignify herself to him, she just sighed.

She felt so tired of it all.

"You don't know what you love."

Zechs's voice was darker and more piercing than any blade could be, sliding into her and forcing a coldness into her interior. It wasn't a false blanket of ice, she knew. It was genuine. The darkness in him he wouldn't allow her to understand brought out a cold in her she tried to avoid.

He wanted her to stop her love. And for the moment she would comply.

Slowly, Noin locked her gaze with his, and felt equal arctic emotions within him.

"You're right. I don't know what I love." A blizzard had swallowed her words whole. "I don't even know what the hell you are, and I don't want to know."

With that, she walked around him and out the door.

-

"I know what I am," Zechs said emotionlessly after the door had closed behind him and she was gone. His right fist clenched until his knuckles cracked and he thought the bones in his hand would break, and he wouldn't care.

A black-souled creature, that's what he was. Something that didn't, and never would, deserve the love she offered him. She didn't understand that opaque abyss within him that came so naturally. And since she never could, in whatever feelings she had for him, he had to remain alone.

Even that much was better than accepting a love meant for a man dead long ago.

-

_The library was empty. A few sections were dark, the overhead lights turned off. He was the only person still there. Even the librarian had taken off, telling the sole student to close the doors when he was done._

_And gods above, it seemed he would never be done. _

_"Algebra. I hate algebra," Zechs muttered to himself, clicking through the figures on the laptop screen on the table in front of him. The numbers were making his head hurt and he would rather have had a root canal with blunt instruments than study all night, but he had semester finals tomorrow. "I really, really despise algebra."_

_"Then why do you make perfect scores on every test?"_

_The voice came from somewhere over his head, and he looked up to have his eyes meet a pair of darker ones._

_He blinked. It was that girl, Lucrezia Noin. A fellow ace-student he'd been oddly aware of for the pass two weeks. Aware of mostly because she kept trying _

_to start conversations with him, even though everytime he cut them short._

_She'd heard him grumbling, obviously, but why should she care?_

_The uncertain moment passed, and his defenses renewed themselves._

_"It's rude to eavesdrop," he replied, allowing his gaze to fall to the screen again._

_"Eavesdropping is one way to get useful information that you can't recieve directly," replied Noin, sitting down across from him. "First rule of reconaissance."_

_Zechs snorted softly. "I didn't know you were on a mission." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. At the time, he didn't have the energy to be brusque with her. Maybe if he indulged her, she'd go away on her own, and this time, stay away._

_Noin shrugged. "Back to my original question: If you hate the subject, why do you work so hard on it?"_

_Why the hell do you want to know? he wanted to say, which would effectively destroy the coolly polite facade he had with other cadets. Instead of saying what he thought, though, as usual he merely gave a neutral answer. "It doesn't matter what I like or dislike. This is an academy, and I'm going to make good of my time here."_

_His ice-colored eyes narrowed slightly, and some of his truer attitude revealed itself. "Besides, why are you so curious? Isn't it a bit late for you to be posing questions on my study habits?"_

_"Close to midnight." She didn't check her watch; she just knew. "Not late by an overachiever's standards."_

_"Late enough." Zechs was getting annoyed by this pointless conversation, despite his minor interest in the person he was having it with. He pointedly looked back to his laptop. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have studying to do."_

_Suddenly, her hand descended on the laptop and closed it firmly. Caught by surprise, he noted irrelevantly how strong her slender hand looked, well-worked by MS control simulations. Like his own hands._

_He looked at her, and found himself also noting that her eyes were less blue and more a deep violet, what he could see of them through her bangs._

_His own eyes narrowed again, but he didn't want to get angry just yet. "Is there something you want?" he asked icily._

_Noin inclined her head. "Why do you try so hard?"_

_"What?" This was unexpected._

_"I mean, why do you do so much to be the best?"_

_This line of questioning was too personal, too close, so Zechs quickly went on the defensive. "I could ask the same thing of you."_

_She was quiet for a moment, considering him with those violet eyes. Then she smiled, a wry and self-mocking expression. "I've got nothing more creative to do. I'm not exactly the most popular cadet around here."_

_"The instructors love you," Zechs pointed out._

_"Yeah." Noin shook her head. "They love you, too. And I'll bet you're still as unhappy as I am."_

_It was true, and he was half-shocked to admit that to himself. Despite his habit of trying to ignore others as best as he could, he had noticed that the other cadets treated her pretty much the same way they treated him: With thinly veiled contempt, envy, and general dislike._

_Mostly, he supposed it was because of their ongoing near-perfection as students within the Academy. But maybe it also had to do with what he had to admit was his aloof and almost cold reaction to whatever friendship they may had offered him._

_Ironically enough, he didn't know how to tell them that he had no clue how to be a friend. There were too many things in his head, bad memories, bad blood. To have friends who didn't share an understanding of such memories would be similar to decieving himself. Fooling himself into thinking he was like them, when he wasn't. He had a mission, cruel and bloody that it was. They had dreams, idealistic and flighty._

_Truth was, it would be more proper for HIM to be jealous of THEM._

_This all ran through his mind quickly, and while it did, Noin's eyes never left his. It seemed she was waiting for something, waiting for him to say something._

_And he realized what it was. She wanted him to ask her: "Why are you unhappy?"_

_Asking that question, those four words, would be the first step in a direction he felt he wasn't prepared to take. Because it would lead him into the mind, into the heart, perhaps, of a person at the same end of the spectrum as he. Someone who could comprehend the pain of loss, the fire of helpless anger, and the hard iron of forced resolve to succeed despite the world._

_But could she comprehend the cold of revenge and hatred?_

_Did he even want to know someone who thirsted for vengeance like he did?_

_He felt so unsure, and looking in her eyes, felt that uncertainty grow. If he launched into that frightening thing called friendship so quickly, without warning of what lay ahead, he might lose his resolve to be a soldier._

_Zechs couldn't do it. He couldn't break his resolution just for a warm heart and a warmer touch. And after a moment of indecision, he sighed - regretfully, yes - hardened his heart, and opened his mouth to tell Noin to go away, and stay away, for the final time._

_"Noin - "_

_But she interrupted him by rising from her chair and moving around the table to sit beside him. She reopened the laptop and looked at the figures on the screen._

_Then she smiled at him, a dazzling sight that made him feel strangely uplifted._

_"I'll help you study," she said brightly, her violet eyes gleaming. "After all, algebra's one of my easiest subjects. You just promise to help me with world history, and we might have a good partnership here."_

_He blinked, at first not understanding._

_Then he realized: She wasn't rushing him. She was giving him time, as much as he needed, and she wasn't going to judge. After all, he supposed, friendship took time._

_They would take their time._

-

It seems I've run out of time, Zechs thought now. Perhaps I ran out quite awhile ago.

_"I've waited all this time . . . and I simply can't wait any longer."_

He understood her words so much better now. To the point where it was unbearable.

Zechs took a deep, deep breath, slowling his heartbeat and rare unsettled thoughts to normalcy. He had to remain in control of his emotions at all times if he was going to be able to deal with these complications. He wasn't sure if Noin would take as wise a path.

Was it wise? He had been leashing his emotions for a lifetime. Even his sense of morals had been brutally distorted in the past few years, but then, that happened to all soldiers.

_Well, soldier_, some part of him mocked, _where's the war? You're one rebel without a cause, and you know it._

His deep breaths escaped with a sigh, and his eyes went to the clock on his desk that also showed the date.

Only four months to go. It felt like a thousand years already.

-

There was no one in the halls at that moment, and she couldn't wait to reach her quarters. She slumped against the wall and closed her eyes, letting the previous events wash over her.

Lucrezia pressed her back to the icy, unfeeling metal of the wall, wishing it could absorb the tumult of emotion inside of her. She felt as if her body, strong as it might be, couldn't contain such violent feelings and not have them explode out of her in a flurry of screams and tears.

In fact, tears did threaten, building in her eyes and tightening her throat. But with sheer force of will she swallowed them, like poison, and let them contaminate her heart and leave her cold inside.

_I told you_, a tiny, vulnerable voice whispered in the back of her mind. _You shouldn't have told him. You should have waited_.

_Forget that_, her soldier's side interrupted icily. _You did what you had to do. This may hurt like hell, but it's progress. We're going somewhere, yes, somewhere dark, and even that much is better than staying trapped in one place forever_.

How long had they been in this place? Since Lake Victoria Academy, or later?

Just for how long had she been waiting . . .

-

_"How long has it been?" Noin asked, and was disappointed when he didn't jump and whirl around in surprise. His stealth listening skills had improved, it seemed._

_Instead, Zechs simply turned to look at her, and she stared at the barrier of his mask with bemusement. She could still see his eyes, blue as a winter sky, but now they were filtered through that mask, and she somehow felt far from him._

_He inclined his head at her slightly. "Two years, give or take a few months. It felt longer," he added dryly._

_Noin smiled. That sounded like her old friend, although he didn't look much like it. Adolescence had been good to him; he was almost six feet, and his shoulders had broadened, giving him a less aristocratic and more intimidating aura than before. He still hadn't cut his hair, which she supposed was his due; he was such an excellent soldier that the military standard of shoulder-length hair was waived just for him._

_She didn't know if the same thing would be said for her; she didn't want to be judged by looking too feminine, so she kept her hair as short as necessary._

_Taking herself from these thoughts, Noin took a few steps towards him as the door to his quarters automatically closed behind her. "So," she began, "any explanation for the new head gear?"_

_It was like the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. She could almost literally feel it when he went cold._

_"I have my reasons," he said curtly, and it was like he was talking to some nosy private, instead of his best friend and almost equal ranking officer. The sudden change puzzled Noin even more._

_"Okay," she murmured, trying to think up a new approach._

_Silence followed, not yet awkward but close to it._

_Her eyes wandered his quarters, looking for some object, some clue of what was so different about him. The room was spartan, bare, but for the gun on the desk, near the computer._

_It was a semi-automatic similar to her own, one that was registered to every private upon entering the field for the first time. Noin narrowed her eyes at it, not knowing she was doing so. In the entire two years she had been doing field missions, she'd only had to use her gun six times, and only four times had the shot been fatal. Up close and personal was the worse, but then there were the mobile suits . . . she didn't know how many she'd killed in her Aries. She didn't want to think about it._

_The experience of killing had been somewhat numbing and disturbing, like a shot of Novicaine to the brain. But for Zechs, with his background? What would killing for the first time have done to him?_

_She looked back at him to realize that his gaze had followed hers to the gun, and that he was still looking at it, chillingly expressionless. Although she couldn't really tell what his expression was with that mask on._

_"Zechs." His attention snapped back to her at the sound of his name, and his eyes seemed distant. Noin swallowed and decided to take a leap into the unknown. "How have you been?" she asked, trying not to sound intrusive._

_For a moment, he didn't answer. Then he said, "Successful."_

_"Apparently." Her natural sarcasm was kicking in, her only defense against this coldness in him. "I hear you made captain in record-breaking time." And he was only sixteen, too._

_He nodded. "I did," was as detailed as he got._

_Noin didn't volunteer information on her own achievements; she was still first-lieutenant, but suspected that she would recieve advancement soon, and then they would be equal. But saying so seemed to be restating a query they had never answered after that last day at Lake Victoria: Were they equals, or was one more or less than the other?_

_Such a delicate question._

_A new silence had begun, and it was making her decidedly uncomfortable, something she had never felt with him before. What was going on? Why was he so - different?_

_It was so frustrating, not seeing his face. That white, frozen mask effectively made him impenetrable, unidentifiable. He was a stranger to her, now._

_The words came before she could stop them. "Seriously, Zechs. Why the mask?"_

_He looked at her, and one gloved hand moved to the edge of the mask, touching it as if he wondered himself. Then he shook his head. "I have my - "_

_"Yeah, you said that, you have your reasons," Noin interrupted. "Now, I'm asking you, not as an officer, but as a friend: Why?"_

_Zechs sighed. "There are only two people in this world who know my true identity. I wish to keep it that way. You see," and as he said this his voice grew wintry, "I look exactly as my father did, when he was my age."_

_Oh. Noin half-wished she could take back the question that seemed to have hurt her friend so much, but the other half of her was busy wondering: Who is the other person? However, it seemed the wrong time to ask._

_Instead she said, "I suppose I can guess when you first put it on," and her eyes fell once again to the gun on his desk. She knew how he felt about being the first Peacecraft ever to go against pacifism._

_"I suppose so." Zechs went over to the desk and picked up the gun, handling it like a pro. "Many things have changed in the past few years, Noin," he said quietly, slipping the gun into the drawer and closing it._

_This time, he looked very surprised when he turned back around to see that she was standing only a foot away from him, Noin noted with some vague satisfaction._

_"Noin . . . " he started, but couldn't seem to find the words to continue._

_Their eyes were locked, now, and she saw a flicker of apprehension in his gaze that goaded her on. Her heart was pounding in her ears as she reached up, placed her hands on either side of the mask, and lifted it up and away._

_His fine white-blonde fell neatly around his features, framing clear eyes that were now naked to her, still icy but readable, and suddenly, he was human again, not just some soldiering imitation of her former friend._

_"You're right," she said softly, so as not to break this new air between them, this odd, intense intimacy she'd never before felt with him. "A lot of things are different now, things that will never be the same again." It hurt her to say those words and know what they meant, but she said them and kept going. "But we're still here. We'll never be what we were, but we always have the chance to be something new."_

_They were so close, she found it hard to breathe. His eyes were so blue, she felt as if she could be lost in them, in a new way that went beyond childhood friendship and somewhere - new. Unknown. Frightening._

_He calmly took the helmet from her hands, but he didn't move away. He just kept his eyes on hers, wondering, questioning. "And what are we now?" he asked._

_She looked down at the mask in his hands, considered what it represented, the barrier it put between them. And she replied, almost in a whisper, "I don't know. But maybe we'll find out. Someday."_

_With that, Noin ran her gloved fingers through her dark hair, turned and walked away, out of his quarters, and just for then, out of his life._

_Zechs looked after her, his grip on the mask tightening, trying to understand what had just transpired between them, and finally deciding that it wasn't yet time for him to know. Instead, he merely murmured, "Yes. Someday."_

-

Someday. It seemed that day had finally come, and it had come with a fight.

That was the truth, but so was the fact that it hurt.

Noin closed her eyes and sighed. She didn't know what she had expected he would do when she finally admitted how she felt. It was supposed to be under better circumstances than this. And she had never actually intended to _say_ it out loud, and so abruptly. She had hoped they'd find some kind of common ground where they could redefine their relationship.

But that wasn't happening. So it looked like they were taking the hard road into hell.

Four months left. What had seemed like not enough time only a day before now seemed like forever.


	9. New Aftermath

**Post-Aftermath, Pre-Strife**

_"'Tis in my head; 'tis in my heart; 'tis everywhere; it rages like a madness, and I must wonder how my reason holds." - Thomas Otway_

_-_

When the comm. link to her computer came on, Noin was about to leave her quarters. Instead, she turned to answer the beckons, and a familiar face appeared on the screen.

"Ashida, I haven't seen you in awhile," she greeted him. She remembered being told about three weeks ago that he would be off-base delivering some vital information on the Martian environment to his scientific superiors. "How was the scientific convention?"

"Tedious," he replied with unusual frankness, making her smile. "I'm glad to be back."

"Glad to have you back."

He nodded graciously, then said, "I called to inform you of a change in plans. Since I'm here, we won't need your services for the expedition to the outer rim of the crater beyond the base. You're free for the day."

"All right. Thanks." Noin turned off the vid-link, then sighed and leaned back in her chair, propping her feet up on the desk.

Free time wasn't something she needed. Free time meant unoccupied thought, and unoccupied thought meant recollections of her implosion with Zechs, and those recollections always lead to unwanted anger and regret.

Too late.

They hadn't spoken in exactly two weeks, four days, and seven hours. That fact alone, that she'd been keeping count, made her want to hit something.

It wasn't common for her to be this emotionally distressed, but she had finally reached her breaking point. And as they said, beware the fury of a patient person.

_"I don't have all the answers, Noin! But I can tell you this: Stop searching for a man who no longer exists."_

What had he meant by that? What could he have meant by that?

What she needed was a good workout. It had always helped her to exhaust bad feelings when she'd been in Lake Victoria Academy, and would perhaps help her today.

Noin left her quarters and went towards the gym on one of the lower levels of the base, one of the "gems" Grant had mentioned when she and Zechs had first arrived. It was loaded with the standard workout equipment, mats, bars, electronic weights, punching bags, etc.

Best of all, it was close to empty at the time, with only a few people. Perfect. She didn't think she wanted too many others to see how frustrated she was.

For the better part of the following hour, Lucrezia stretched her body to the limit to rid herself of negative energy. She lifted weights until her muscles ached and shone with sweat. Despite the extreme strain on her upper body, she did up to ten chip-ups on the bar, then twenty push-ups. She kept pressing herself until she felt like collapsing and just falling apart.

But the workout felt amazingly good, a wonderful, constructive way to exorcise demons.

_"I know you cared about who I used to be, but it's over now. I've long shed that skin."_

Some demons were more stubborn than others.

She turned to the heavy black punching bag. After yanking her shirt over her head to reveal her halter top and wrapping her knuckles, she began her abuse on it.

Stupid, stupid complications, she thought, slamming her fists over and over into the unfeeling bag. It twisted and squeakingly protested on its chain, but Noin continued her assault. She whirled with a backhand, delivered a vicious roundhouse, on and on.

_"I can't be that person anymore. I'll never be that person you knew. Stop demanding him from me. He died long ago."_

But she wasn't. She wasn't asking him to be something he wasn't. All she was asking was for him to let her understand him again . . . right?

Or was he right? Was she holding on to the past?

Blow after fierce blow. Her body was nearing exhaustion, but her mind forced her to keep going.

_"You don't know what you love."_

Damn!

Finally, Noin collapsed against the bag, breathing hard, beginning to realize

how much anger she was really feeling, and how it was so unlike her. She didn't know how much more she could take of this.

She was still for a moment. Then she said, without turning around, "How long are you going to stand there?"

-

Zechs had gotten to the gym before Noin had, and had seen her come in. For a while, he just watched her work out, almost entranced by the power she had. It was almost as if she was a different person while her body was taut with working muscle.

In her tank-top and shorts, he saw that her figure had become very sleek. She was all catlike power and disciplined angles. But not even her years of ruthless exertion could have prevented the slim feminine curves, the long, toned legs, or the soft, almost indetectible bronze of her skin.

It felt alien to see her in such a light. Alien because he didn't usually think of her as a woman, but as a fellow soldier.

Why am I seeing this now? Zechs demanded of himself, looking away for a moment, finishing his bottle of water.

It might have been their distance from each other over the past couple of weeks. Some might agree that a man needed to step back from a situation in order to see what he had missed.

And he was as far back as could be without leaving the planet. Their fight had opened wounds, old and new ones alike, for both of them, and some space was necessary in order to allow the sting to go away.

_"You are - or at the very least, used to be - a very good friend of mine. A friend who used to laugh and had some brightness to him. A friend I decided was my comrade, my partner. For that friend, I won't let you be alone."_

Did she realize what those words had done to him? What he used to be . . . didn't she know that he would never be that person again?

_"Was it the mask that killed him? Or first blood?"_

And since that person was dead, how could she love him? There was no way she could still have feelings for the person he had become. She had said so herself. She loved the boy at the academy. Not the man in the mask. Not the man on Libra. Not the man here today.

_"I was still there through all of that, and no matter how you say you changed, or broke, rose or fell, I still care about you! Through all of those deaths, I still love you!"_

He looked back at her, the heat in her movements, and wondered what she was feeling.

Finally, he decided enough was enough. He wasn't used to avoiding his problems. No, he was more accustomed to handling them with either deliberate planning or a 9mm. handgun.

Seemed as if he was going to need both when dealing with Noin.

Grabbing a second container of water, Zechs stood, walked towards her, then paused, waiting patiently until she was finished. He knew better than to interrupt the fury of fists she was inflicting on the punching bag. She might actually turn that fury on him.

At last, she stopped, and demanded, "How long are you going to stand there?"

She turned and as she did, he tossed her the water without a reply. She caught it out of the air easily, gave him a narrow look through bangs damp with persperation, and took a few gulps.

Finally, she murmured, "Thanks."

He nodded, then stated, "We need to talk."

"Dangerous words, Zechs," Noin replied, tossing the now-empty bottle up and down.

"Necessary words."

"I'm not interested." Taking her gaze from his, she flexed the tired muscles in her left arm. "A lot of things were said, and it's going to take more than a conversation to fix the damage those words inflicted. You know it, and I know it, and frankly, I'm sick of it all."

"Avoiding each other isn't going to solve anything," Zechs said calmly.

She looked at him just as calmly, and crossed her arms. "Then what will?"

Silence, now. Neither one knew the answer to that question.

-

It was later that evening when it happened, around seven.

Lucrezia had just finished enjoying a very long, very hot shower, possibly the best therapy in the world, especially when water was rationed at eight minutes a shower. But even that luxury didn't quell the weirdly forboding feeling in her stomach.

It had been with her since her fight with Zechs, so she had assumed it had something to do with him. But when it continued, she realized that it was concerning something else.

What could it be? She pondered this is as she dressed in her usual tank top and jeans. Would there be a break in the water main? An electrical systems shortage? An accident in one of the docks? A crashing satellite?

What?

Her intincts had always been sharp and useful to her in her soldiering days. She made accurate educated guesses about her opponant's next move, and reacted on gut feeling when it came to anything else. She'd been unmatched when it came to leading covert missions because she could handle unexpected situations with ease. It was one of the main reasons she had been made into a military instructor; she could teach young soldiers to look for even the most unusual events on the battlefield, and therefore make them better prepared.

But now . . . she had no clue what was going to go wrong.

Noin paced her room for a few minutes, fretting for no reason she could guess clearly, then decided that she would be better off finding some odd job to do before she drove herself insane in her own room.

The moment she stepped into the hall, the ground quivered beneath her feet and everything went black.

-

What in the hell . . .

Zechs pressed a hand against the wall to steady himself as what felt like a mini-earthquake ripped through the entire base. The lights flickered on and off, and there was the awful sound of twisting metal from somewhere over his head.

The tremors stopped, the lights came back on, and for a moment, all was still.

Red-alert lights started flashing wildly, and Grant's voice came over the P.A.: "Security officers and technical personnel, report to the main section immediately." His voice had lost its usual cool drawl, and sounded truly alarmed. "Get down here as fast as - "

And without warning, a shock wave twice as large as the previous tore into the foundations of the base, and Zechs was harshly thrown to the floor.

It was like being on the inside of a shuttle that had just been heavily blindsided by a cargo ship. He was tossed about wildly, and at one point, hit his head. All was black for a second, then the explosion of movement stopped just as suddenly as it had begun.

He recovered and was on his feet in an instant, but blind, because the lights were out for good, it seemed.

After a moment, the emergency lights came on, lighting the hallways with an eerie bluish sheen, but the P.A. remained silent. He could hear shouts of alarm from other workers somewhere down the hall.

Collecting his thoughts, Zechs came to the most logical conclusion: Raiders.

He weighed his options, and despite a strong desire to rush to Noin's quarters to see if she was all right, he reminded himself that she was not a child and could take care of herself.

But if he didn't see her at the section, he would go looking for her nonetheless.

That decision made, he raced in the direction of the main section.

-

When Noin finally made it to the main section of the base, the electronically operated doors were welded shut. She couldn't get them open for anything, even with help from the others that showed up. Everyone's security codes kept getting rejected from the system, which had suddenly gone insane.

"Damn," she muttered, and turned to the plexiglass windows that allowed passerby to see into the base security operations area. They were protected with plated metal seals, only activated in serious situations.

This was, obviously, very serious.

Suddenly, a hand landed on her shoulder, and she whirled.

It was Zechs. Faint concern flashed in his eyes.

"You all right?" he asked her.

She nodded, touched at the question, but it wasn't the time for sentiment. "I'm fine, but what the hell is going on here?"

"Raiders," Xack answered for him, pushing his way between the people, Elle in tow. "We've got raiders."

He ripped open a metal panel in the wall and got to work hacking into the system, muttering something about complete systems shutout.

Finally, he managed to crack the new code and the doors slid open.

Grant was at the main console, and before anyone could ask questions, he barked, "Divert all remaining power to security functions. Get me schematics on any distrubances around the perimeter, both on the surface and in space. I want systems scans, defense preperations, everything possible before we lose control again. Someone get a satellite uplink to some outside forces, we need back up. Move it, we don't have time to spare!"

All the requested personnel flooded into the area, manning stations and trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

Eventually, announcements of the situation came from all around the main base operations area.

"The entire electrical system has been compromised. We're operating on mostly auxilary power, here," said one worker.

Noin went over to that worker. "How much do we have?"

"Forty percent."

"We're built to operate on sixty," she stated. "See what you can do."

"The primary computer is on the edge of complete meltdown," Xack said, typing furiously at his section of the console. "I'm going to have to do a core examination to divert all control to this room before every door is sealed shut and we have a complete systems failure."

"Damage report?" Grant requested.

Elle shook her head, eyes locked on a screen. "We're standing strong. The foundations of this base were built for shockwaves, just in case. It'll take about a dozen more breakers like the last before we're any serious danger."

"Just in case, evacuate all unnecessary corridors and unstable sections, and close off the upper sections completely." Elle nodded and got on the P.A. system. "Get the medical crew to spread out and collect the wounded," Grant went on. "Where the hell is Ashida? I need to know how long the environmental systems will hold."

"Ashida's on the surface," Noin answered as she remembered her conversation earlier. "He and his crew might be in danger."

A minor tremor ran throughout the base, and an alarm went off.

"I'm detecting several surface vehicles within the perimeter of the crater," announced another worker. "And just as many space vehicles above the dome."

"Can we get a visual?" Zechs asked, moving up to stand behind Grant. Noin was at his side, all three looking at the large blank telescreen.

A few seconds later, the screen flickered and came alive. Instead of seeing empty space and glittering stars, in the entire area was shown six slender cruisers and a large, scarred main ship.

On a split screen, they could also see ground cruisers closing in, built like mini tanks, and manually taking apart the airlocks with mechanical arms.

"Dammit," Grant cursed. "We're surrounded."

The main ship fired again with its main laser, and the base shook with the force. Red lights flashed, and someone shouted, "One docking bay has been destroyed. We have five remaining."

"Can we get any ships out there?" Noin demanded, her mind racing a mile a minute.

"There's only a twenty percent chance they'd make it out to open space without getting shot down."

In the sudden quiet, only the sound of typing was heard, and suddenly, Xack slammed his fists down on the console, startling everyone.

"Shit!" He narrowed his eyes at what he saw on the computer screen. "We've been infiltrated."

Without hesitation, Grant ran over to the younger man's spot. "Explain," he demanded, and everyone else was listening.

"There are traces of an experienced hacker all throughout the inner systems," Xack explained. "It's very faint, but I can detect it. And I can't fix it. That's why we're losing control, and why we didn't detect any enemy advancement; whoever hacked the system put up some kind of blocking mechanism. But the only way anyone could do that is if - "

" - they installed corrupted parts right into the system," Noin finished for him, and everyone looked at her as she narrowed her eyes. "The last drop-off for parts more than a month ago was bogus. It was raiders all along."

Now that she was thinking clearly, she could see exactly where she had gone wrong. A cargo ship grunt shouldn't have known so much about the base's security. He shouldn't have . . .

_"This base seems protected enough," Celluci put in. "You have surface defense, including thermo and laser weapons, force-field shielding, lockdown measures in case of emergency, and a decent satellite uplink to the nearest Preventer station. In fact, it seems a little like overkill to me."_

_"You've done your homework," Noin pointed out, impressed. "But it honestly isn't enough. In comparison to the heavy security on the Lunar Base, this base has close to no solid defense. Besides, it's all computer controlled, and that's a danger in itself. Trust me, a soldier always knows."_

_Celluci smiled, looking at the cargo ship. "Indeed."_

"Celluci," Zechs growled, coming to the realization as soon as she did.

Suddenly, a worker announced, "Incoming transmission." She glanced at Grant. "It's from the main ship."

"Put it through," the older man ordered.

The telescreen flickered for a moment, then transmitted the rather smug-looking face of Shawn Celluci.

"Hello," he said, smirking at everyone in the room. "Having a few techinical difficulties?"

"You son of a bitch," Grant snarled, one fist clenched at his side. "You're never going to get this base."

Celluci inclined his head, still wearing that infuriatingly confident expression. "I disagree. You see, you'll never regain full control of your computer system in time, certainly not enough to raise defenses, and in about five minutes, my fully armed men will began storming the facility. You have, what, two hundred personnel? Most of them have never even held a gun. Do the math."

At that moment, another shot at the base knocked everyone who wasn't sitting or leaning against the wall down off their feet. Grant stood shockingly steady, glaring furiously at Celluci.

However, Celluci had shifted his attention to Zechs. "Looks like I'm leading this operation, Zechs Merquise. You won't be ordering me around with your incompetance any longer."

"You always were a fool, Celluci," Zechs replied with unsurprising coolness. "And now, you're making a very foolish move."

Though he was now angry, Celluci forced a laugh. "What, do you plan to fight me by yourself? Or will your girlfriend be giving you an assist?"

Undaunted, Noin smiled a rare smile that she reserved for all those bastards she intended to kill. "You're damned right I will. I live to exterminate losers like you, Celluci."

"I'm so terrified," he mocked, but seemed almost unnerved by her smile. "Just for that, I won't let any civilians through the battlelines. Anyone who tries to leave gets shot down, and anyone inside who fights back will be killed.

"I suggest you give in, and I might let you live."

"Vaffanculo!" Lucrezia spat the insulting phrase in street-gutter Italian that made Celluci go pale with rage.

"Fine," he snapped. "Have it your way."

The screen went blank, and Zechs looked at his partner in surprise at her language. He knew some Italian, and had an inkling of what she'd just said.

Noin just shook her head at him, not wanting to admit that she'd just told Celluci to "Go fuck yourself."

It was one of a number of filthy lines she'd learned on the streets of what used to be Italy when she was much younger, and she hadn't had to use them except on very rare occasions. This one counted.

Meanwhile, Grant started shooting orders from side to side. "I want scans on the environmental systems. Divert all available energy to the shields. If we can't go on the offense, we need to take up a defensive stance."

"Grant, nothing short of a laser cannon will bring this base down," Elle stated, sounding confident. "We'll be fine."

Zechs narrowed his gaze at the screen portraying the main ship, and Noin saw his eyes widen in sudden alarm.

She followed his gaze, and felt a bolt of panic.

"Tell me that isn't what I think it is," she whispered.

The ship was equipped with a heavy-duty laser weapon, not nearly as powerful as beam cannon, but damned close enough.

And it was powered up and aimed directly at them.

"Everyone!" Zechs yelled. "Get down NOW!"

He grabbed Noin around the waist and pulled her to the floor just as the beam weapon fired and the world fell apart.


	10. Survive and Conquer

_**Survive and Conquer**_

_"Either I will find a way, or I will make one." - Sir Phillip Sidney_

_-_

It could have been an hour or five minutes later when Zechs became aware of his surroundings.

Everything was dim and quiet. Something snapped and sparked in the background. There was a heavy weight on his back, and a fierce ache in his head. He felt as if someone had brained him with something hard and buried him alive. Common sense told him otherwise.

He shifted, and the weight fell off his back. It was a large metal slab; if it had landed at another angle, it might have killed him.

Suddenly, he remembered what had happened. The beam weapon firing, him diving on Noin . . .

She was lying on her side beneath him, nursing a nasty gash in her temple. Her eyes fluttered open, and she murmured, "Are we still alive?"

"As far as I know," he said in a low voice, rising to his knees.

"Great," she muttered, and slid into a sitting position.

He tested a few limbs to make sure everything was working properly, and when he moved his shoulder, he felt a stabbing pain and gripped it in one hand.

Noin saw this and asked, "Is it dislocated?" Zechs nodded. "Let me help. I know a technique that should fix it." She got into a kneeling position and placed her hands on strategic places on his shoulder.

"This is going to hurt," she warned.

With one sharp push and a relentless twist, she relocated the shoulder. Zechs gritted his teeth and rode through the blinding pain until it faded.

That finished, they both got to their feet and surveyed the damage. Part of the ceiling had come down, but no one seemed buried beneath the wreckage. Equipment sparked where it had been hit by flying debris, and the emergency lights glowed blue. The others were gradually gathering their wits also, groaning, trying to get it together.

Grant stood and let out a stream of curses before asking, "Everyone alive?"

There was a chorus of affirmatives, after which he demanded, "Damage report."

Xack was immediately at the console, and he pulled up some base scans. "The base is still standing. Elle, get over here, I can't read these architechtural schematics."

She limped over to him and looked at the screen, then sighed, part relieved, part alarmed. "We're still good, but we can't put up a defense any longer. The upper sections are on the verge of collapse, and I hope no one was in the western wing, because it no longer exists. A couple of passageways are blocked by debris, and a water line has burst, but the five docks are still intact. Several more shots like the last one, and this entire place will come down around our ears."

"They won't fire again," Zechs said. "They need the base intact. We're crippled, now, so they'll start the invasion."

"They've already started," Xack said suddenly, and everyone looked at him. "They're in."

Zechs acted fast; if there was one thing he knew, it was battle. As easily as Grant had done, he started giving the orders. "Xack, listen to me very closely: Open every door in the base, and shut down the electrical systems."

Xack frowned. "But - "

"They'll only use it against us. Just leave the environmental systems and emergency lights on. Do it now."

The younger man obeyed, nodded to his fellow workers, and they got to work.

Immediately, every console in the room went blank, and a strange, dying sound echoed throughout the base as everything went off-line. The doors to the security section all snapped open and stayed that way, and blue lights glowed everywhere.

Meanwhile, Noin went over to the weapons lockers and pulled them open. They were well-stocked just for an emergency such as this. Everything from P-20 military rifles to semi-automatic laser handguns were collected there, with plenty of extra ammunition and audio communicators.

"When the hell did we get fire power like that?" someone wanted to know.

"The lockers seemed a bit understocked, so I ordered some extra firearms," Noin replied. "Better safe than sorry, you know. It's an advantage we can use. They won't be expecting weapons like these."

She started pulling the weapons free while Grant said dryly, "So surrender isn't an option, huh?"

"It doesn't matter whether or not we surrender," Zechs said quietly. "Celluci won't want anyone reporting back to the Preventers; his men are probably on a kill or capture mission. Raiders aren't known for their mercy. Our only choice is to fight back and try to escape."

Noin nodded as she loaded a charge into a laser rifle. "Their efficiency depends on how many men they have. If Celluci's confident about taking out almost two hundred personnel, he likely has about thirty or more armed men. It wouldn't take more than that."

Grant frowned. "So what do we have going for us?"

"Knowledge of the base, a few experienced soldiers, and a life-or-death decision," Zechs replied grimly. "Not much, but if we strategize, perhaps enough."

"Anyone who can hold a weapon, grab something," Noin ordered, tossing a P-20 to Zechs, which he caught easily. "Anyone who can't, this is the best time to learn. We've got to get out there and do as much damage to their numbers as possible."

Relieved to have something to do, the technical and security personnel started handing out firearms.

Meanwhile, Noin pulled Zechs to the side, and looked at him with violet eyes narrow and glittering with the prospect of battle. "We've got maybe fifteen people altogether who can hold a gun, a hundred and seventy-five civilians to protect, about thirty armed men to defend this base against, and not nearly enough resources to pull it off," she hissed. "This is insane."

He smiled very slightly. "Favorable odds for the Lightning Count."

"Of course." She shook her head. "You would say that, you old war-hardened fool. All right, then."

Zechs looked at her, his partner, and felt the old camaraderie. It had been months since they had been on a mission together, since Mariemaia's army posed a threat. Did they still have the old skills?

There was only one way to find out.

Laurence Ridde, the head security officer of the _Pirate_, the most ruthless raider ship to ever cruise the stars, as far as he was concerned, led his team through the east side of the Terra-forming Base.

They'd gotten in with fairly little resistance, since the hacking of the core system took care of the surface defenses pretty easily. The little group they'd found on the surface were already locked away, and Celluci had given the order for his raiders to move in and clean up.

So, following orders, the crew of the _Pirate_ stormed the base, splitting into

seperate teams to make sure no one missed anything. They didn't expect much trouble.

Inside, it was dark, excepting the emergency lights. The tunnel where the water line had burst was semi-flooded. Ridde scowled as he and his team sloshed through the ankle-deep water.

"When do you think we'll see trouble?" a scruffy blonde asked no one in particular.

Ridde shrugged but didn't look towards the blonde. "From this half-assed fortress of computer geeks and scientists? Probably never. But pay attention. Celluci warned that Merquise and that Preventer Noin might try something. Those two ain't leading officers for nothing."

Suddenly, they heard splashing up ahead, from what sounded like someone running away.

The raiders froze, then Ridde nodded at two of them, and those appointed two went forward into the dark tunnel.

They came back a few minutes later, dragging a woman and a man in lab coats with them. The man was unconscious. The woman was fighting, but she was small, and didn't stand a chance.

"Hold her still," Ridde ordered. They tightened their grip and forced the woman to face their leader. She was attractive and terrified, Ridde could see that.

Ridde's scarred face was serious and unamused, but behind him, he heard some of the others making lewd suggestions at the woman.

"Hey, Ridde," one said, "when this is over, can we have a go at her?"

The leader shrugged. "Doesn't matter either way to me. Tie them up and take them back to the surface. When we're done here, you guys can do whatever you want to her. Prisoners are free game."

"No!" she screamed as she was being dragged away.

Suddenly, there was a loud banging noise from overhead.

The team all brandished their weapons, with Ridde demanding, "Come out and we won't kill you" but it was too late.

The door of the hidden compartment in the wall slammed hard into one of the raiders, and a pair of hands grabbed the civilians, and yanked them out of the water.

That person yelled, "Now!"

An ominious buzzing crept through the hall, and without warning, the water came alive with a high-voltage electric charge. It was a slaughter. Five minutes later, most of the group was out cold in the water, excepting their leader, who had run off in the chaos just in time.

The only sound was the woman in the lab coat sobbing with relief.

Eyes narrowed, the Elle pushed aside the compartment door. "Are they dead?" she asked.

Xack kicked out the grating in the ventilation system overhead. "Unfortunately, no. The charge from that shorted wall unit was medium at best. It's going to be a hell to repair later on, but it was worth it to do this."

She smiled. "Definitely. What a bunch of bastards."

Their speaker headsets crackled with incoming messages. A voice said, "Xack, Elle, report."

"Five down," Xack responded. "Two civilians recovered. And the ring leader's already hightailed it."

"Roger that. Keep moving."

With a nod to each other, the two helped the two civilians to their feet and started forward.

-

"Something's wrong," Rupena muttered, readjusting the comm. unit in her ear.

Some of her team looked at her, and Jax, who'd had a crush on her since she'd started working on the _Pirate_ raider vessel, sent her a smile. "You shouldn't worry your pretty little head about these prisoners," he said, indicating the frightened group of dockhands their team was holding at gunpoint in the third docking area. "We got 'em right here we want 'em."

Rupena resisted the urge to smack Jax for the "pretty little head" comment. She didn't like him, the idiot. "No, I mean that I can't contact team B. Their comm. links are offline."

Jax frowned. "Whadda ya think happened?"

"Don't know. We ought to check it out."

Suddenly, the door to the dock slammed open, and the entire team prepared to fire.

The person lifted his hands, looking at them all with wide eyes. "Hey, no need to get violent. I'm just here to say hi. So . . . hi."

He smiled and his gaze shifted just enough for Rupena to realize that there was something going on behind her.

Shots rang out, and the yells of her companions made her whirl, eyes widening, to open fire, but the feel of a muzzle in her stomach gave her pause.

"Drop it," a guy she didn't know ordered. "Or I'll blow your kidneys out."

She obeyed, and looked angrily at the scene before her. All of her team was being held in check by at least four individuals she had never seen before. They all looked competant and royally pissed. One of their own had been shot dead by her men, and that probably hadn't helped their mood.

"Damn," she muttered. "How the hell did you people get in here?"

"You ever think to check the vents?" one of them said.

Rupena sighed. No, she'd been told that the enemy couldn't possibly be that well prepared. Oh, well. At least she wouldn't have to deal with Jax anymore.

-

Such attacks were going on around the base, quiet ambushes, taking out the enemy because the enemy was too cocky to expect a defensive. The main defense in the security section was getting regular updates on this.

"What's the score?" Noin asked, looking at the viewcreens.

"Fifteen out," Grant answered. "We have one casualty and two wounded. One got away. That would be the little boy going to cry wolf."

"Yeah." She grinned dangerously. "So let's go wake the wolf."

" . . . Let me warn you, this plan is completely suicidal by military standards, and some of us won't be coming back. I leave you the option of staying with the civilians in the lower sections, but you will not be allowed to surrender to the enemy and risk giving away the entire mission. Now that you know what we plan to do, you're either with us or against us. Understood?"

The collection of security personnel and a few individuals who knew how to fight nodded their understanding, and Noin gave a grim smile of satisfaction.

Zechs had been briefing them on the plan he and Noin had put together. It was crazy at best, but they were low on time and it was the most likely thing to work that didn't involve detonating the entire base.

As Grant had said, destroying the base would defeat the purpose of fighting for it. They had to keep it as intact as possible, and still eliminate the raiders.

She was reminded of her days as Lake Victoria's Head Instructor; those potential soldiers had depended on her lessons to get them through situations such as this. Now she was doing it all over again.

"Is everything ready?" she asked Zechs as she came up to him.

He was busy loading a charge into his assault rifle. "Our 'soldiers' have their orders," he answered without looking up.

"Good."

He looped the rifle's strap onto his shoulder. "Let's go."

She caught him by the arm, stopping him. "Hold on, Colonel Reckless."

"What is it, Noin?"

"I want to remind you of the fact that this entire plan is pure lunacy," she stated dryly. "And just to make sure you don't go off trying to play the suicidal hero, I'm going to fight right beside you."

He looked like he wanted to object, but knew there wouldn't be a point. Zechs just sighed and nodded. "If that's what you want."

Lucrezia grinned. "It is. Now, let's go win this battle, Preventer Wind."

Her partner smiled slightly. "As you wish, Preventer Fire."


	11. War And Resolution

_**War and Resolution**_

_"They will let you live only when you learn to die." - Theodor Herzl_

_-_

The first part of the plan was simple: The guerilla attacks would trim the worst of the raiders' numbers, and therefore make it easier to take them out with as few casualties as possible. Celluci, though, despite his cockiness, was not going to make that easy, and would consolidate the men he had grounded on their last refuge, which was the security section.

Or at least, we hope he's foolish enough to do that, Zechs thought as he and Noin walked into the deserted and darkened area. He summoned up a memory of Celluci, an arrogant military prodigy who thought he was the best in the business. Zechs was certain enough that Celluci would let his anger and confidence override his training.

And if he didn't, well, it was a good day to die, as they said.

Zechs glanced at Noin, who was absently tapping a fingernail against the metal of her rifle. She looked disturbed.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

She looked at him in surprise, then sighed and shook her head. "No, nothing really. I'm just thinking how stupid I was to let Celluci slip right past me. You would think I'd know better than to let a pretty face lower my guard."

"I was just as fooled. There's no point to beating yourself up over it now."

She sighed. "You're right. All I have to think about now is finding that idiot and doing seriously unspeakable things to him." Her lips twitched in a smile at a joke only she knew.

Silence fell between them. Zechs leaned against the wall conjoined to the main corridor leading to and from the security section, one of three. They would see the enemy before the enemy could see them.

Noin dropped into a crouch against the wall on the other side, looking calm but ready. Her expression hadn't lost its introverted look.

The silence grew heavy. Zechs realized that this was the first time they had been completely alone together since their fight. Memories of that event surged to the surface of his thoughts, which had been occupied with strategy for taking back the base. With a battle to worry about, it was easy for both he and his partner to forget about their personal problems.

Now that there was nothing left to do but fight and hope to stay alive, he could sense the awkwardness between them.

Some aggravated part of him was muttering, _She said she loved you. She _said_ she _loved_ you. Are you so hardened by war that you don't feel anything about it?_

_There's nothing to feel, _Zechs countered furiously_. She was angry. She didn't intend to say anything like that._

_Maybe she didn't intend to say it, but it was said, _answered the voice_. And you know she meant it. You saw the look in her eyes. You fool, you've seen that look before. She meant it._

Zechs's hand clenched on the rifle's grip_. And so? She meant it for someone else. Someone who isn't me. Not any longer._

The voice seemed to laugh._ Let's hope you're sure about that._

He shut it out. This was certainly no time for him to be having some convoluted argument with himself. He would wait until after the battle to drive himself insane.

He felt eyes on him and looked up to see Noin looking straight at him.

"You're thinking," she began softly, looking him in the eye, "'Why did she say she loves me when she doesn't even know who I am?'"

Too surprised to say anything, Zechs just looked at her. Then he felt something shift within him, and he turned away. "And you're wondering, 'Is he right about that?'" he returned.

Her eyes narrowed, and she straightened from her crouch. "How am I supposed to know if you keep acting as if I'm not worthy to know?"

"Because then you'll completely rethink this infatuation you have with that boy from the military academy." Zechs said this was all the bitterness he'd been feeling since the moment he'd stepped foot on the grounds of Victoria Academy. "And we wouldn't want that."

Silence, again. He risked a glance at her. She was looking at the floor, biting her lip. Then she raised violet eyes to his. "You told me that boy was dead. Didn't it ever occur to you that maybe that girl from the military academy was dead as well?"

Zechs didn't let his expression change. "How can she be when I'm looking at her right now?"

A smile, small and bitter, touched Noin's lips. "And you say _I'm_ the one who doesn't understand _you_."

These words hit him hard, and he struggled to come up with something, anything, that would combat her startling revelation. Finally, he tried to speak.

"Noin, I . . ."

Suddenly, he stopped and turned his head, brow furrowing as he registered the sound of many footsteps approaching. Noin came to attention, also, and their conversation was completely forgotten as they reverted into their soldiering modes.

If they hadn't been so occupied with talking, they would have heard them coming at least five minutes ago. They were close.

Pressing back against the wall, Zechs looked at his partner pointedly. She lifted the detonator in her right hand.

They looked at each other one more time, and Zechs nodded.

She pressed it the button on the detonator.

Chaos ensued.

-

As soon as the minor bombs set all down the hallway exploded, Noin moved, cocking her weapon without a thought.

The corridor was wide and filled with smoke and yells from the surprised raiders. She barreled through the uproar, tumbled, came up in the kneeling position on the other side surrounded by armed men, and started firing.

Without even having to look, she knew Zechs was right beside her.

Two went down immediately, but the rest of the group, which numbered more than a dozen, recovered quickly, and started an assault of their own.

Noin fell back just as the grenade she knew Zechs was going to throw hit the ground amidst the men and exploded.

That took out two more, lessening the odds enough for the real fighting to begin.

Getting to her feet with blinding speed, Noin bulldozed into the nearest assailant, bludgeoning him with the butt of her rifle. Then she whirled and took out one more with bullets before diving out of the way to avoid an onslaught of bullets from another raider. She wasn't quite fast enough, and a bullet grazed her shoulder, tearing a wound.

Zechs managed to shoot him down before the raider could do any real damage to her person, but she knew they both had only so many bullets left and there were eight raiders to go.

She turned and blew a raider away with the last of her clip, then looped the rifle's strap over her shoulder, jumped up to grab a grating over her head, and kicked another in the face.

When she dropped, she saw that the men that had been knocked cold by the explosions were getting back up, and two more were coming down the corridor to back up their partners, so she yelled, "Zechs!"

"Do it!" he replied, slamming another clip into his rifle and letting loose another round of carnage.

She pulled the second detonator from her pocket and started to press it.

That was when she felt the impact of a rifle butt on the back of her neck, and blackness swallowed her vision whole.

-

Zechs whirled just in time to see Noin go down hard, and the detonator bounce away to be lost in the chaos of moving feet.

Immediately, he knew he only had two options: One, do what his logic was telling him and go after the detonator, leaving Noin to a most likely gruesome fate at their enemies' hands, but ultimately saving himself and the base. Without the detonator, this fight was all but lost. Two, do what his heart was telling him and abandon the detonator to try and protect her, thus probably dooming both them and the base.

He narrowed his eyes. When forced to decide between logic and emotion, it was best to choose neither. So he would pick the third option.

He lifted his rifle high, took careful aim, and fired.

Steam exploded from a punctured pipe and scalded a raider right in the face, before completely clouding up the corridor.

Keeping low and manuvering through the crowd of shouting and confused men, it was easy for him to hunt down and retrieve his fallen partner. She hadn't been hit particularly hard, and was already coming to and nursing the bruise forming on the back of her neck. He draped her arm around his shoulders to keep her steady and felt around for the detonator, which seemed to have gone unnoticed in the fray.

Just as he found it, the other hand holding his rifle was being lifted, and the gun was going off. He looked up in surprise to see a raider dead and Noin aiming the weapon. Her eyes were at half-mast and she looked disoriented, but obviously she was going to be fine.

"The schematics," she rasped. "There was a passageway."

Zechs frowned, then flashed on the previous study they had done of some base maps Elle had drawn up for them.

"Right," he said quickly. "Hold on."  
"Like a vise."

His mouth twitched in an inappropriate smile, he clasped her hand tightly, and he pressed the detonator.

The series of explosions down the corridor were fast, but not fast enough to keep up with them as they located the discreet removable paneling on the right wall, slammed through it, and hit the ground just as the corridor collapsed in on itself, echoed by the cries of the defeated raiders.

Silence for a few seconds, as the dust cleared and the vibrations ceased. It was impossible to see through the darkness. Then Zechs heard his partner mutter, "Two head injuries in one day. There go my tap dancing lessons."

He snorted and tried not to laugh. "You took up tap dancing?"  
"Briefly. Very briefly."

She shifted and he felt her get to her feet, grabbing his hand to help him up as well. A moment of searching his person helped him find a small but powerful flashlight and illuminate the passageway. It was only wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side, and he could almost touch his head to the low ceiling, but it was good enough for their purposes.

"Where does this go again?" Noin asked, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Launch Bay Three."

"Right. We're going to catch some serious hell from Grant when he gets a look at that corridor."

"He specifically told us not to use the detonator unless it pertained to an emergency," Zechs reminded her. "It seemed like an emergency to me. Besides, it can always be rebuilt."

But you can't, he added silently, and started walking.

His partner kept pace with him as she removed her nine millimeter from her belt and cocked it. "I'm going to miss my rifle," she remarked. "I hope the others kept to the plan, otherwise, we're going to have a big problem at the bay."

"We have a back-up plan."

"One that involves more casualties than should be necessary, and therefore using it should definitely be a last-ditch effort."  
"You and your casualties." Zechs sighed. "There are always sacrifices, Noin."

She made no comment to that. Their footsteps echoing off the walls and their steady breathing were the only sounds.

Then she said, "I wish you wouldn't say things like that. When you do," she caught his eyes with her own, "you sound just like Trieze."

He looked back at her unwaveringly. "Trieze was a brilliant man, so I suppose I'll take that as a compliment."

"Trieze is a dead man, so you should take it as a warning."

Zechs didn't say anything to that. There was nothing to say.

-

The second part of the plan would be more difficult and less straightforward than the first. It had already been knocked askew by their need to use the passageway, but they had been prepared for the possibility and told their "soldiers" to go on ahead if their leaders were held up for any reason. Noin wished they could have continued radio contacts, but some forethought by Zechs and a little surveillance by a security worker had confirmed suspicions of there being the probability of their audio communications being monitored. Radio silence had to be maintained in order for things to go as well as possible, and everyone would just have to hope everyone else would do what they had to do when they had to do it.

Celluci was beginning to wise up to the fact that his victims weren't going to behave as victims. They were going to fight back, and a couple of seasoned soldiers would be leading the cavalry.

This is going to be tricky, Noin thought, falling a little behind Zechs as they continued their wind-about path through the dark passageway.

Snagging a cruiser and getting into space without being shot down, then either infiltrating or pounding their way into that damned raidership without driving Celluci to use that buster rifle to blow the base clean off the surface of Mars.

He would probably do it, too. Shawn Celluci didn't strike Noin as the kind of person who took defeat graciously. If he was willing to kill off any civilians that defied him, then he was probably willing to annihilate the entire base if he felt it was necessary.

Bastard.

She realized she was clenching the grip of her gun too tightly, and forced herself to loosen her fingers. Then she saw that their passageway had come to a fork, one going left, one going right.

"I wonder why Elle designed all of this?" She stood looking between one way and the other, puzzled.

"Probably for the very reason we're using it," Zechs told her. "In case of raider attack. This terraforming project was commisioned by the Preventers, so a number of the people here were part of the Alliance or OZ reserves. Military training, even simple basics, teach to be ready for any type of emergency. I'm fairly sure it's left," he added, going down the left passage.

"Right . . ." Noin nodded, following him. "But what use will Mars ultimately serve? I imagine Une has some kind of plan for it, although most likely, it isn't militaristic."

"I suppose most of the people coming to settle here in the first few years after its completion are going to be former soldiers."

"Yeah. That makes sense." With wars as abolished as they were going to get, those who were formerly with the military and all military functions, including schools, training facilities, and weapons manufacturers were left with only two choices: Join the Preventers, or give up the lifestyle altogether. Some became rebels and terrorists. Others fell into obscurity and went into the underground. But the majority just wanted to enjoy the peace in solitude, and turning Mars into a home was a good idea.

"Maybe Mars will even become the base for further space exploration," she mused.

"It's a possibility."

They fell silent, and she did her best to focus on the upcoming battle. But a question was nudging at her relentlessly. Noin decided now, before the most grueling part of the fight, was as good a time to ask as any.

"Would you do that?" she asked.

Zechs glanced at her over his shoulder curiously. "What?"

"Stay here on Mars. You know, permanently."

For some time, he said nothing in response, so long that she almost thought he wouldn't answer. Then, suddenly, "I don't like to stay in one place for too long."

She practically had to bite her tongue to keep from remarking that for most of his life, she knew, he hadn't had a choice in staying in one place for too long. Neither one of them had. Since he had been six and she had been nine, nothing had been constant. Moving from one place to another, from orphanages to military bases to academies to battlefields, colonies to Earth and back again, the only kind of home either one of them had recognized had involved war. And no one could find a peaceful home in war.

But this wasn't the time or place to say any of that. So she just murmured, "Neither do I."

He looked at her again, seemed about to say something, then glanced back in front of them with a sudden tensing of his hand on his rifle. "Here it is," he announced tersely.

She stopped beside him and looked on as he flashed his light over the large black block letters that proclaimed the wall paneling to lead to Launch Bay 3.

As Zechs moved the light to check his watch, Noin told him exactly what he needed to know: "Ten minutes and thirty-three seconds until Xack does his thing."

He dropped his wrist and shot her an exasperated look. "How do you do that?" he wondered, not for the first time.

She smiled. "Remember, I was always better at math than you were."

"Yes." A shadow of a smile crossed his features. "I remember."

With that, he shoved the flashlight into his belt to free his hands, and got to work removing that section of the wall. Noin stepped in to help, and within seconds the heavy slab of metal fell away to reveal the darkened and lifeless bay. Her partner raised to the flashlight yet again to illuminate the contents of the area.

Three hulking shapes that consisted of one shuttle and the Preventer cruiser they had used to first arrive at Mars were two of the resident space vehicles, as they had planned. But the cruiser was too heavy for what they intended, the shuttle weaponless. So they headed for the third vehicle.

"A Version 46.701 Starfighter," Noin said, looking the sleek silver craft over appreciatively. "Equipped with high-level beamlasers, multi-directional maneuvering, futuristic targeting and navigational arrays to put a Gundam to shame." She folded her arms behind her head and grinned at her partner. "Are you as turned on as I am just by looking at it?"

He shot her an amused look. "You always did have an affinity for high-tech machinery."  
"Oh, please. Like you don't. Boys and their toys," she reminded him as they went towards the lockers at the far end of the bay to change into their spacesuits. They had no intention of actually being out in space, but it would be beyond stupid to strand themselves up the river without a paddle, as the saying went.

Always be prepared, Noin thought caustically, trying to cheer herself up. But not even her ever-present, morbid sense of humor could ease the foreboding in the pit of her stomach.

The gist of it was this: She didn't like fighting. She never had. It had always been a means to an end for her, more a duty than a pleasure. Sure, it gave her a rush sometimes, but that thrill wasn't the point. If this was what it took to get to where she was going, then so be it. But she didn't have to enjoy it.

Her partner, however . . . he was another story.

She finished zipping up her snug, jet-black suit, picked up her sleek helmet, and glanced at Zechs. He was clad in his equally fitted crimson suit and picking up his gun, deep in thought, probably plotting out the rest of their mission in his head. It amazed her sometimes, how utterly right he looked in the pre-battle tension, ready to go to war.

Could he even do anything else so well?

She didn't know, and it bothered her more than she wanted to admit - even to herself.

The Starfighter ship was smaller and sleeker than a standard cruiser, restricted to a main cockpit set in the front and a second one just behind it. It was a new Preventer model that they had tested on Mars earlier in the year, where it would be neatly distanced from any kind of media interest, and Noin had loved it from the moment of take-off. It had been crafted after the design of standard atmospheric fighter jets, only far more aerodynamic and considerably more dangerous. Being too small for heavy-duty weapons, it wasn't made to cause large amounts of damage, but more as a distraction for the larger ships to get in or to protect a larger ship - basically, a dog fighter. The ship moved through space like a shark through water, agile and deadly, never slowing down, never letting up.

Just - just beautiful.

"If you start salivating, I might have to sedate you," a voice remarked dryly.

Noin snapped out of her admiring daze and looked at her partner sheepishly. "Mechanomania. I'm seeking help."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're not alone."

She grinned as he opened his cockpit and climbed up into his seat, and she followed suit.

The ship was as beautiful inside as it was outside. There was silver and black paneling everywhere, metallic perfection. It reminded her of her days as an instructor at Victoria Base, where she got to preview and test new mobile suit models.

But she wouldn't be piloting. That would be Zechs' role.

The Lightning Count strikes again, she thought, settling into the co-pilot's seat and strapping in.

Her partner strapped himself in as well, and they both closed their hatches. Quickly, he flicked the necessary switches to start the engines and entered the access codes for the system. Lights brightened the darkened console with a soft humming noise, and the entire vehicle seemed to vibrate with new life. The oxygen tanks activated, and the darkened bay came up on viewscreens in both their sections.

She was almost lost in thought as they both silently went through routine checks to make sure everything was online and functioning properly.

Finally, she just had to know. "It's nice, isn't it?" she asked over the comm. line.

She heard him pause a moment, then go back to typing. "What is?"

"This. Being back in the pilot's seat. Going into battle."

For long time, he didn't say anything. When the entire system came up green, he sat back, staring at the screens. Then, he sighed. "What do you want me to say, Noin? Yes, I do enjoy battle?"

"Just tell me the truth." She pulled up his video image on her screen. "That didn't used to be so hard."

"A lot of things 'didn't used to be,'" he replied. "And this isn't the time to get into that again."

If she hadn't been maintaining an even level of adrenaline and anger since the entire mess had began, that would have been the last straw. Now, she just took a deep breath and released it, and forced herself to say what she felt she needed to say.

"Thank you," she said softly.

He looked up and they locked eyes on the viewscreen. In that moment, like they had once been able to accomplish not so very long ago as comrades, as friends, he knew exactly what she meant, just by looking at her. "Don't thank me," he said. "I was being sentimental. It wasn't practical."

Just like in Epyon, Noin thought. Saving a friend's life is "impractical".

"Well, then." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Thank goodness for impracticality."

For awhile, they just looked at each other in the distance of the screen, both unwilling to back down, an entire conversation that had yet to be spoken allowed flashing in their eyes.

And then a beeping sound filled both cockpits, startling both out of their staring match. It was Noin's watch. They looked out into the bay as it suddenly came to life, lights flickering on and the airlock breaking open to space. The heavy steel doors moved aside, revealing the pathway to the stars.

Noin smiled. "Right on time, Xack." That kid really was genius with a computer - maybe even as good as Heero Yuy. Not that she would ever say that aloud.

"Ready for launch," Zechs said, and kicked the space vehicle into gear.

As his partner braced herself for what was coming, she made a promise to herself.

When this is over, Zechs, she thought, I'm going to ask, and you're going to answer.


	12. War and Resolution Part II

_**War and Resolution (Part II)**_

_"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." James Baldwin_

-

It had been a long time - too long - since he had had this feeling. Ever since he had been a boy, he loved to fly. No, even more than that - he loved to pilot. There was a difference. Flying meant utter freedom in the emptiness of the sky, unrestricted, like suddenly having wings. Piloting meant being restrained to a machine that, no matter how sleek it was, was still a bulky metal thing that could crash to the ground more violently than a bird ever could.

But Zechs preferred piloting. It offered such an incredible sense of control, which was more seductive than freedom. In the sky or in space, against the force of gravity or lack of the same, doing something nature never meant for man to do, he was the master of himself, of his destiny. Shifting the controls, adjusting his destination, his speed, his height, he could decide it all. Only his own will and the laws of physics and machinary itself could bring him down.

Perhaps that control wasn't genuine, but it still tasted real enough. And it was his drug.

It was this love for piloting that had kept him going throughout his entire career as a soldier, his moment of control in a life that had been manipulated by others for so long, too long.

He was damned good at it, too.

His mouth quirked in grim amusement at that last thought as he expertly maneuvered the Version 46.701 Starfighter out of the launch bay. For a moment, all he saw were stars . . . and then the targeting system started going insane, picking up on all the enemy craft that now surrounded them. Six - no, seven targets on the screen of space in front of him. All turning to survey their new opponant.

"This is going to be one hot welcome from hell," he heard Noin grate over the comm., and his hands tightened on the piloting controls. "Pick one."

"Whoever shoots first." Zechs narrowed his eyes and pulled a sharp turnaround to bring the enemy cruisers into better range. The goal was the main ship; they couldn't waste too much time with this. It had to be hard and fast.

The Lightning Count's speciality.

Two of the cruisers recovered from their surprise and the Starfighter's sensors picked up on them charging weapons.

"Targeting . . ." Noin began. He could hear the beam lasers unsheathing from the hull of the ship and taking aim. " . . . and locked. Say when."

Zechs suddenly leaned on the controls, sending the craft flying straight into the faces of their opponants. He hit a breakneck speed that almost guaranteed collision, waiting for the perfect moment . . . the weapons were nearly charged, in a few more seconds he wouldn't be able to dodge . . . wait for it . . .

"Now!" he snapped.

He shifted into a incline just as a jolt let him know the lasers were firing at full. They swept right over the top of one of the enemy crafts, so close that he knew they had to have breeched the hull, and as soon as they flew clear he pulled up hard in a tight loop that left his stomach somewhere far behind them.

The risky move annihilated one craft and injured another, but they weren't out of the woods yet.

"Missiles!" Noin snapped over the comm., slightly breathless as Zechs brought the ship right side up again. "Standard heat seeking, at least six!"

He had seen the flash of one of the larger cruisers launching the set, and reacted accordingly. He picked up speed and led the missiles on a wild chase, he pulled enough turnarounds to allow Noin the chance to use the lasers to destroy their pursuers, all the while trying to stay away from the enemy cruisers. It was close, but she killed the missiles.

Most of them.

A single missile brushed their side, but it was enough to make it explode. Zechs clenched his teeth as the Starfighter did a violent snap motion to the left, but recovered. Over the comm., though, he heard a sharp intake of breath and a curse that let him know his partner hadn't been so lucky.

"Noin?" He brought up her image on the viewscreen - she looked dizzy but otherwise fine, one hand to her forehead.

"The hull took minimal damage, we're still good," she reported, then winced. "I don't know why the hell this keeps happening. My head can only take so much abuse."

"Third time is a charm." His mouth twitched in a feral smile as he pulled back around to face their enemies. "Maybe you'll remember a past life."

"I'd rather hold on to this one. Incoming in both directions!"

"I see it!"

Zechs sent the ship into a hard rollover and nosedive combination, confusing the missiles enough to send them ramming into each other. Explosions lit up the darkness of space, and, adrenaline thick in his veins, he prepared for the next attack. The best offense equalled the best defense, and he was as aggressive as common sense would let him be. In the next seven minutes, they destroyed another cruiser and crippled two more.

"Hey, you wanna play a game of 'Gut The Fish'?" his partner asked him slyly.

He barked a short laugh. "I prefer 'Chicken'."

"Both."

"Agreed."

With one of the smaller enemy ships right on their asses, out of missiles but firing insanely with lasers, he took them right into the belly of the beast, what their enemies seemed to think was a trap. The tight circle of ships turned on them, but he was too fast. The nosedive he pulled would have made them scrap metal on the ground if they had been in the atmosphere, but in space it took the Starfighter right under the cruiser.

At the last minute he twisted the ship into a sideways sweep, and the right wing, sharply edged, slashed into the underbelly of the other craft. As if that weren't enough, the ship following them couldn't dodge down in time, and the two collided in a delightful show of flames.

This was it - this was good. This was what he loved. The heat, the ferocity of battle, nothing else felt quite as exhilarating. He had to be faster, stronger, fiercer, better than his opponants in order to survive. The point was to get out alive - it was that simple. No long-term decisions, just make it out. A shift here, a dive there, no one could catch up to him, no one could stop him. He felt almost invincible. He had grown up on it, was addicted to it, and couldn't imagine his life without it.

And somehow, it fit, it made sense, having Noin over the comm., cracking jokes and making challenges, helping him out. It made him think of those days back at the Academy, allowing themselves to enjoy the mock battles of the simulations.

Just like him, she couldn't go fast enough, couldn't do enough damage. Being the best.

They had to be the best.

Suddenly, he heard Noin's console start making the most annoying beeping sound. She put up schematics on his viewscreen and said, "Okay, I've finished scanning the main ship. There's an empty docking bay on the port side we can use. But the lasers aren't going to be enough to get us through."

Zechs narrowed his eyes. "No, they aren't."

With that, he sent the ship whirling back around, towards the waiting enemy. They reacted accordingly, sending more heat-seeking missiles their way, about a dozen this time. It was probably the last launch they had, and they were going all out.

I'm only going to get one chance at this, he thought, and went into full gear.

The result was another wild chase, but this time, he snapped, "Noin, don't fire!"

"What do you mean don't fire, you can't dodge that many missiles!"

"I'm going to give them a bigger target. Port side, right?"

A pause, and then she laughed as she understood. "Go for it, Count."

And so he turned and aimed the Starfighter . . . right at the port side docking bay of the huge raider main ship. The defense lasers mounted on the outside immediately became active, and it was all he could do to avoid the worst of the shots.

It was a gamble, at best, but he had full confidence in his own ability. It was the Starfighter he was worried wouldn't hold out.

The scarred gray metal of the main ship loomed up in the viewscreen as they raced straight at it in a suicidal collision course. If Zechs had been a praying man . . . but he wasn't, and he was going to do this, statistical chances and all the heavenly guardian angels be damned.

Just as the do-or-die point reared its grinning head, one of the missiles caught up to them and the ensuing explosion rocked the Starfighter - but not enough to break Zechs' icy calm.

He pushed the weakened ship into the sharpest upward sweep he could get out of it, cutting it so close he scraped its belly against the hull of the main ship before pulling out.

The remaining missiles impacted in a series of violent explosions that tore right through the hull and left a big, ragged, and rather inviting entryway into the bright hole that was a docking bay tunnel. Zechs caught sight of this upside-down as he led the Starfighter into a tight loop that set them in the right direction again, right towards the hole.

"Knock, knock!" Noin started firing the lasers to make the hole as large as possible, but it was still a tight fit and it was a wonder they weren't stuck.

But they weren't, merely hit the floor of the tunnel hard and half-skid, half-flew in sort of a wobbling shimmy, since one of their thrusters had taken the brunt of the missile attack. Both soldiers clenched their teeth and held on for dear life.

At the last second, Zechs remembered the other door.

"Noin!"

"On it!"

The lasers weren't any good on the hull, but they did wonders on the airlock that would get them into the bay. Her firing skills did most of the work, and their slender, barreling ship did the rest.

They slammed into the dock practically nose-first to the wall, and this time, Zechs was the one who hit his head, blacking out.

-

All Noin could think as she shook cobwebs out of her head and looked at the flickering screen in front of her was how many ways Lady Une and the head of the technological department of the Preventers were going to kill her and Zechs for trashing their precious experimental spacecraft.

This little joyride might amount to patrol duty for a month, she thought, and had to choke back a laugh. As if that was the biggest of her problems right then.

"Zechs?" She managed pull up a staticky image of her partner's cockpit, and frowned to see him slumped over the console, obviously knocked clean out. The landing must have been harder than she thought, at least for someone in the front. "Zechs, wake up, I know your head's harder than that. Zechs!"

Nothing. Dammit.

She put on her spacesuit's helmet and closed the visor, activating the oxygen tank, and opened her hatch. The docking bay's emergency airlock had been activated and was slowly sliding into place, but air had yet to fill the space again, so the helmet was a necessity.

Gun in hand, she looked around. Flashing lights announcing their unauthorized presence to the rest of the ship stained the otherwise darkened bay in red, but they were still alone. No one had been expecting them to get through in quite the manner they had, so that bought them some time, but not much, and certainly not enough for a quick nap.

When air filled the bay again, she opened her partner's cockpit using controls at her console. Then she maneuvered over in the semi-gravity to study him. There was a small cut in his forehead trickling blood, but nothing looked serious.

She anchored herself on the side and shook him, none-too-gently. "Come on, snap out of it!" She didn't know what she would do if she couldn't wake him up in time.

Fortunately, he started coming to, then snapped into full consciousness so quickly she wondered if he wouldn't be delirious.

But his eyes were clear as they met with hers. "We're in?" he asked roughly.

"We're in. You okay?"

"I'll live." He shook his head once, wiping away the blood, then reached for his rifle with one hand and his helmet with the other. "On a scale of one to ten," he began, releasing the harness and then hauling himself out of his seat.

She smiled. "Ten being graceful and swanlike? I think that landing was about a two. Maybe a three for effort. You've done better."

"I've also done worse," he pointed out. "Any landing you walk away from is a good one."

They started for the exit, guns at the ready. Still no sign of any reinforcements, but that probably wouldn't last long.

"How many times have you actually walked?" she asked, remembering all of the occasions his crazy piloting ended up with him having to be carried to a hospital.

He glanced at her. "It's a metaphor."

"It's inaccurate." Noin absently checked her clip. "So is the plan the same?"

He eased out of the docking bay exit first, cautiously looking around the corridors lit in flashing red. Nothing moved, and he replied, "Stay alive and disable that beam laser."

"And improvise on everything in-between." Noin smirked at the recklessness of it all. "I just love these well-thought-out strategies."

If her partner had anything to say to that, he didn't get the chance, because that was when the delayed attack began.

There were ten assailants, all armed and pissed. Instead of a close-quarters brawl, the ensuing battle became quite the shoot out. Their attackers had home-field advantage, not to mention bigger guns, and the only thing that kept Fire and Wind from getting thoroughly snuffed was the fact that they weren't afraid to jump right into it. Guns weren't much good if the target slipped right into your personal space and rammed a fist into your diaphram. Three times the raiders ended up taking down their own men with friendly fire, and the concussion grenade Zechs had been saving for the right oppurtunity did nothing to help the situation.

Unfortunately, guns were still guns and Noin saw a bullet tear through Zechs's left shoulder before the fight was through.

When the smoke cleared, ten people were either unconscious or dead on the floor, Noin had herself a new P-20 rifle and extra clip, and she turned to Zechs, her hands going to his wound.

He waved her off, face expressionless as he examined the blood flow. "It went clean through. I'm fine. Let's keep going."

"No, let me wrap it." She made do with a strip of cloth that took care of the worst of the blood and decided they had better make this quick.

They came across several more lackeys with guns before they came to an intersection that split five ways.

Noin heaved a sigh of frustration, too tired to waste breath on a curse in Italian. "We can't keep running around like this," she said. "We're not getting anywhere."

"There has to be a control room somewhere around here that can give us access to the main system," Zechs grated, looking as if he could go six more rounds with an entire platoon. Noin knew he wasn't quite so inexhaustible, so she scanned all of the corridors, and randomly picked "mo."

The first doorway she came upon, she raised her rifle and blew the electronic lock apart. The door slid open . . . "Voíla. Instant system access."

The two people stationed at the console got up to stop them, but resistance was futile and in a few seconds they were out-cold on the floor from well-placed rifle butts.

While Zechs stood guard at the door, Noin got to work on the system. She was no serious hacker, but every military recruit was taught the basics of cracking into secured systems, and she had been an especially good student. The raidership wasn't exactly the U.S. Pentagon, so she managed past the firewalls and drew up ship schematics more intricate than those she had scanned in the Starfighter.

"What do you have?" her partner inquired.

"This piece of space debris has better security than we thought. The firewall around the beam laser is pretty thick, and this system is all tangled up in the core of the base's computerized mechanisms," Noin reported, her fingers flying over the console. "We can't do anything about it from here. We'd have to go to the bridge."

"Suicide. They'll have that entire area cordoned off, and even if they don't, if we get in, nothing short of detonating the whole thing will get us out of there."

She couldn't resist. "Do I sense just the slightest bit of fear, Wind?" Noin glanced over her shoulder to meet cold blue eyes.

Zechs glared at her. "Reasonable caution."

A sudden bang at the door made both of them whirl to face it. Muffled voices through the barrier announced the arrival of raider reinforcements, and it sounded as if it was going to take more than a sheet of steel to stop them.

Just lovely.

"Plan B," Noin said to Zechs as he backed away from the door towards her, holding his rifle at the ready.

He made an ungentlemanly sound of derision. "There was a Plan A?"

"We let them take us," she went on.

He looked at his partner as if she were insane - and it wasn't the first time the possibility had occurred to her about him, so she recognized the look. "Noin," he began slowly, trying to feel out her apparent lunacy, "Celluci is not going invite us to his quarters for tea and conversation."

"No, he's not stupid enough for that." She looked at him with a sly smile in her eyes. "But he might be stupid enough to take us right where we want to be: The bridge."

"And he might just have us shot on sight."

"No guts, no glory. Didn't that used to be your motto?"

He stared at her, then shook his head and laughed. For the first time in a long time, it sounded like a real laugh, free of the sarcasm and morbidity that had been his signature since - well, since awhile ago, really, and it made Noin smile.

The moment was ruined, however, when the door was blown in.

-

"Get them in the cuffs, now! Before the pretty-boy tries somethin' funny," a rough-looking man grated, and he was immediately obeyed.

Enemy soldiers were, typically, unpleasent people exorcising their violent tendancies by beating up on whoever had the misfortune to come under their care. Zechs could have forgiven that, if these particular guards weren't also cowards who made sure he was tightly restrained, his arms locked behind his back and his bullet wound blazing with pain, before punching him in the gut to force him to his knees.

He grunted and clenched his teeth, doing his best not to react, even as he was pinned to the floor and manacled at the wrists. What the hell did they think this was, an episode of "Interstellar Cops"? If one of them had said "assume the position", he would have had no choice but to laugh and make the situation even worse.

What a wonderful time to gain a sick sense of humor.

When they yanked him back up, he saw that Noin wasn't getting much better treatment. His eyes narrowed to icy slits when he saw how one particular man ran his hands much too freely over her body, searching for hidden weapons. They had the P-20 already and she was wearing a goddamned spacesuit. Where would she hide a gun?

"She's cute," the raider remarked with a lecherous grin. "Wonder if the captain'll let us have a little fun with her when we finish this job?"

Even in cuffs and held down by three men Zechs would have found just enough strength to kill the bastard for that. So it was more than a little satisfying when Noin maneuvered herself in one athletic motion and clipped the pervert in the chin with her boot with enough force to send him flying back into the wall.

Another raider backhanded her across the face, but before anything more severe could be done, the one who seemed to be leader snapped, "Stop fucking around. Let's get them to the bridge. Come on, move it."

They were hauled, dragged, and basically carted to their destination. Zechs wondered if he and Noin would live long enough to put their pseudo-plan into action. Their continuing health depended on Celluci's ego, and they had taken it down quite a notch with their attack. He might just have them shot through the head.

The Lightning Count hadn't survived a war just to end up killed by some uppity thief who used to serve under him. This plan had better work, or he was going out the hard way and taking everyone around him down with him.

He was good at that.

Noin caught his eye and held his gaze pointedly, violet eyes narrowed and piercing. He could read the look as clearly as if she had said the words. 'Don't you do anything yet. Don't you dare.'

His own eyes flashed back at hers, darting quickly to their captors and back to her. 'If this thing you call a plan goes to hell, I won't have a choice.'

She made a soft, exasperated sound through parted lips. 'At least wait for it to work before you go kamikaze, idiot.'

He tightened his jaw and glared at her. 'Kamikaze missions have a greater chance of being successful.'

And she rolled her eyes with disgust. 'The volunteers always end up dead, too.'

Neither one of them marveled at how easily they communicated without words. It just came so naturally that they had forgotten they even knew how to do it. Maybe later it would seem amazing, but right then Zechs was irritated and snorted derisively. 'Better than being dead and unsuccessful.'

His partner glowered at him. 'Shut up.'

Two of their captors glanced at each other and shrugged, clueless.

The cockpit of the Pirate was large and in surprisingly good repair, with little of the second-hand look of the rest of the ship. Mars loomed in several different viewscreens at various angles, and the huge glass-and-steel base seemed almost insignifigant in the red expanse. The two hundred personnel that lived there, however, were not insignifigant.

His eyes discreetly flew over the equipment. Screens, buttons, lights, comms., captain's seat, workers' seats . . . weapons console. The beam laser. Fifteen feet away - maybe sixteen. Two seconds in which to get shot trying to get to it. Damn.

Celluci looked up from where he stood beside the right console, and smiled at the sight of his captives. The expression was all teeth and no good tidings; he looked like a shark when he did it.

"Nice to see you two again," he remarked, nodding to a worker seated at the console before walking over to the two Preventers. "Manacles are a good look on you, Noin."

"Gee, thanks, psycho," she said flatly.

Celluci glanced at his lackeys and she was promptly forced to her knees, Zechs right beside her. "You're just in time for the final act. You see, this is the part where I win and you die. It's like a Greek tragedy."

Zechs couldn't resist. "And I'm sure you speak Greek fluently, Celluci."

Noin audibly choked back laughter. It took two seconds for the double meaning to register - and rage crossed the other man's face. Three seconds later, Zechs had a boot buried in his gut.


End file.
